


Moving At The Speed Of Sound

by MakiMatsurra



Category: Sonic Boom - Fandom, Sonic the Hedgehog - Fandom
Genre: F/M, OC insert, Sonic Boom - Freeform, Sonic Boom Rewrite, Sonic and Tails - Freeform, Sonic and Tails have brotherly moments, sonic x oc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27573365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakiMatsurra/pseuds/MakiMatsurra
Summary: Basically the entire Sonic Boom series with another character named Hina the Fox added into it and a few rewrites! ^^
Relationships: Sonic/OC
Kudos: 5





	1. The Sidekick

It was a peaceful day in the canyon, well... it was until a blue hedgehog was chasing a man in a flying mobile.

"You can't lose me, egghead!" The blue hedgehog yelled.

" **EGGMAN!** You know my name is Dr. Eggman! You do that on purpose!" The blue hedgehog cocked his head and smiled.

"Do what, _egghead?_ " The blue hedgehog followed Dr. Eggman into a huge circle, he put on the brakes so he wouldn't fall into the lava. He looked up at the man.

"It all ends here, old friend. Prepare to be destroyed, by burnbot!" Dr. Eggman gestured beside him to show a robot that was painted red and white with turquoise eyes and claws. Not to mention there were plenty of spikes on him. The hedgehog crossed his arms.

"So what, he's gonna burn me with flamethrowers or something?" Eggman looked confused as he scratches his head.

"Flamethrower- we-well no-"

"Oh! Acid? Incarnating grenades!"

"No! No no no! **CLAWS!** He has CLAWS! Very PAINFUL claws!" He gestured to the bot again as he brought out his claws. The hedgehog put his hands on his hips.

"Then you should have called him " _Clawbot_ " or "The _Lacerator_ " or " _Pinch-a-Tron 9000_ " but _Burnbot_? I mean that's just false adver-"

"I name the robots Sonic! Burnbot, _**ATTACK**_!" Eggman exclaimed red as his jacket, pointing at Sonic. The bot jumped down and started to circle around the cavern. Sonic shrugged as he did the same. Suddenly, a blue plane flew over the cavern, show a two-tailed yellow fox.

"Blue leader, this is Yellow sky. I have eyes on Burnbot. He's on the move, over." Sonic reached for his communicator device on his wrist as he smiled to himself, still running.

"Thanks, Tails. Initiate speeding swing surprise." He hung up as Tails dove in the cavern, shaking Eggman while doing so. He followed Sonic as he turned his belt buckle, making a loud cracking noise, he held his fist close as it was turning a bright yellow. Sonic rushed up to a ramp, so did Burnbot. They were at ends meet. Until Tails had an enerbeam in his hand and swung it, Sonic grabbed it and swung around, hitting Burnbot in the face, knocking him down. He skidded to a stop.

"Get up! Get up! _**GET UP!**_ " Eggman exclaimed. Burnbot did so as he looked at the Tornado. He reached up there with his claw and clipped the wing. Tails' face was full of worry now. He started to spin rapidly as Sonic walks forward, hols the communicator close to his mouth.

"Bail Tails, **BAIL!** " Tails tried to, but the lever came off. He sighed. Sonic was going to rush to his aid, but Burnbot stood in his way. Sonic looked around and saw a rock, he spin dashed it. It crashed onto the robot and ricocheted him up to ground level. He saw the whole thing unfold in front of him. The plane crashed hard into the ground.

" _ **TAILS! NO!**_ " Sonic stood there, wide-eyed. He soon rushed to the crash site. Eggman glared at him.

"We'll be back Sonic!" Eggman used a large magnet to get Burnbot from under the rock.

"You are heavy! Seriously, Burnbot. You can stand to _burn_ a few calories." He hoisted him up into the air went to his lair. Sonic rushed to the plane, worry in his eyes.

" _ **TAILS?! TAILS!**_ " He rummaged through the wreck and saw him. He had a ton of cuts and bruises, plus his fur was black from the soot. When Sonic finally released Tails from the wreck, he softly put him down on the ground, scanning over him. He leaned down to his chest to see if he was still alive. He was. Thank chaos. He smiled as he looked back down at his little brother.

"Keep resting pal, I'll get you home." He put his arm under his head and his legs as he hoisted him up.

"Promise. I'll _never_ let anything like this happen to you _again_." He sighed as he started to walk off to Tails home. When he got there he bandaged him up, and asked one of his friends, Hina the Fox, to help him look after Tails. She was a red fox with shoulder length hair and golden eyes. She dawned a red skirt, white long sleeved collared shirt with the sleeves rolled at her elbows, a black tie, black thigh highs, and brown knee high boots. What made her distinctive to Tails, was that the tip of her ears were dipped with brown fur, and she only had a single tail, that was extra fluffy.

Tails woke up after she was putting fresh new bandages. He rose up and grabbed his head, groaning. Hina put her hand on his back.

"Take it easy, Tails. You had a rough crash."

"Wh-where's Sonic?" Sonic rushed into the room with a smile on his face.

"Hey, buddy! How you feeling?" Tails also smiled as he got himself off the couch.

"I'm great. Ready to get back in action!" Sonic nervously smiled and scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, yeah... About that. Um, I've got some great news! You, my friend, are taking early retirement!" Tails and Hina looked confused.

"Early retirement?" They both said at once. Sonic walked up to Tails and put his arm around his shoulders.

"Yeah! You're gonna be able to play lots of golf and spend time with the grandkids!" Hina raised her eyebrow at that part. Grandkids? What was he on about?

"I don't have grandkids!" Tails said.

"Well, nows your chance to get some!" Tails blushed heavily at that. 

"Trust me. It's for the best." Sonic hugged Tails as he was trying to figure this whole thing out.

"I-I'll see you around pal." And with that, rushed out the door and slammed it behind him. Hina and Tails looked confused.

"Wait. What just happened?" Questioned Tails as she nodded. Sonic came back in.

"I fired you." He slammed the door again. Tails put his hands on his hips and rocked back and forth on his heels.

"Okay, just checking."

Sonic sighed as he grabbed the stack of flyers and sadly looked down at them.

"Don't look at me like that. I did what I had to do." He walked up to a tree and posted a flyer.

"Now we're gonna make sure Tails _STAYS_ retired." He walked away to post up more flyers.

Eggman picked up one of the flyers and went back to his lair. He scanned the paper.

"Sidekick tryouts. All qualified candidates welcome. Best candidate gets the job. Resumé and references are required." Eggman raised his eyebrow as he turned to two robots. One with a circular redhead, and the other with a yellow cube head.

"Can you believe this?"

"Resumé and References aren't unreasonable sir." The red one stated as the Yellow one jumped up.

"Especially in this job market." Eggman slammed his fist down on his desk. The robots started to run around in circles until Eggman threw something at them.

"What fool would want to be Sonic's sidekick? Spending every day with him, enjoying his friendship and respect." He turned to the robots with a grim look on his face.

"Not me! That's for _SURE_!" Eggman then thought of something.

"Unless..." People started to line up outside of Sonic's house. Hina was first in line, with a look of anger flashed over her face as she held the flyer. She walked in to see Sonic have a clipboard and a green pencil in his hand. He looked back at her.

"Okay! I can understand the "early retirement" thing, but this?!" She slammed a flyer on the table. Sonic glared up at her.

"You don't understand." She crossed her arms.

"You're right, I don't. This is not you, Sonic!"

"How do _YOU_ know who I am?"

"I know that you love Tails with all your heart and wouldn't do _THIS_ to him! Sonic! You guys have been sidekicks since he was three! _THREE_! And now you're just gonna throw that away?!" Sonic looked down. As she sighed, she picked up the flyer off the table.

"Good luck then." She walked out with a grim look on her face. Sonic straightened up when a pink hedgehog came in.

"I'm Amy Rose, and I'll be auditioning for the part of sidekick!" She smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. Sonic sighed and tapped his clipboard with his pencil. "Amy, I know who you are."

"Great, because I'm fine with nepotism. Under "special skills" add juggling and singing." She started to do so as Sonic rolled his eyes.

Next was a beaver. "My biggest weakness? Actually, it's my incredible cowardice."

Next was Knuckles, who had stolen the clipboard from Sonic. "I think you would be a great sidekick for me." Sonic sighed in annoyance. "No, Knuckles I'm looking for someone to be _my_ sidekick."

"We'd have to change your name, though. I'm thinking _Knuckles Junior._ " Sonic growled and took the clipboard from him and started to scribble on it.

Finally was a mysterious person, covered in the cloak. "Ok, last question." Sonic sighed as he scratched his ear with a pencil. "What would you do in a no-win situation?"

" _If I'm with you, there's no such thing as a no-win situation._ " Sonic smiled to himself. "Huh, you really get it, new guy."

" _I do get it. But I'm not a new guy..._ " He tried to pull off the cloak, but fell down in the process, revealing Tails as he shook his head, dazed. Sonic stood there, in shock. "Tails! You _cannot_ be my sidekick."

Tails pulled out the flyer, pointing at it, then himself. " _All qualified candidates welcome. Best candidate gets the job._ I'm a lock." He put his hand on his hip while holding up the flyer. "Unless there's something you're not telling me," Sonic growled.

"Why are you so...stubborn?!" Tails smirked.

"Where do you think I get it from?" Sonic gave out an empty laugh and put his hands on his hips. "Fine. But get ready for the tryout of your life."

"Hello." The brothers looked at the man who entered, getting into a fighting pose. "Eggman!" Tails exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" Sonic questioned.

"My name is Dr. Eggman I'm here about the sidekick position." Holding up his resume.

"Wha... But you're my arch-nemesis."

"That's true. But I could be a valuable asset to your organization. For example, I'm a doctor. Not a real doctor, a Ph.D. But still..."

Sonic growled at Eggman, while Tails looked at Sonic worriedly. The brothers backed up in surprise when the flyer was shoved into Sonic's face." _All qualified candidates welcome._ "

"Ok, fine. You both can move on to round two. But neither one of you is gonna be my sidekick." Tails scoffed. "Who else is there?"

Suddenly Hina came in with the flyer glaring. "And one more thing-"

"Congratulations Hina! You're the third candidate!" He pointed at her. Her face turned white when she saw Eggman and Tails glared at her. She gulped nervously and smiled. " _....What?_ "

"All right, being my sidekick is no easy task." Sonic started. The candidates were propped up on a steep cliff, they all had a board that was floating. "This competition will test your strength, stamina, and endurance." Hina looked down and gulped, hearing the wild monkeys and how far the drop was, her face turned white once more. "The winner will be whoever makes it through all of the unimaginable hardships and brings me the red flag I planted atop the incredibly dangerous but inaccurately named Mount Safety."

Hina looked down and started to step off the board. "S-Sonic I don't think this is a good idea..." She was interrupted when Eggman pushed her down, she started to scream a bit. " _ **HOOOWWW DOOO I STOPPP?!**_ " She exclaimed.

Tails and Eggman followed, taking different tracks to reach the finish line. Sonic looked down and rushed off to go meet at the Mountain. Tails was in the lead, however, Eggman decided to go and cheat and use bots that had blades on them. Tails dodged them to the best of his abilities, he did get a close shave on his arm though, making him wobble, but go faster. He accidentally bumped into Hina, making her fall off her board and into some bushes, she groaned and laid there for a while. Tails stopped once Eggman's bots tried to crush him, he continued and skidded over, where Tails' plane and Eggman's mobile was. Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on here? Where's Hina? She should have finished before you."

"Nothing I can't handle." Tails said, completely ignoring Sonic's second question, he rushed towards his plane and started it up, taking off in the air, Eggman not far behind. Sonic raised his eyebrow once again and followed, stopping when he saw Hina on the ground.

"Hina! You okay?" She nodded and pointed at the competitors. "You have to stop them."

"What...why? What about you-"

" _ **JUST GO!**_ " She lightly pushed him, smiling. He nodded and followed.

"Give up, Eggman. This job is rightfully mine." Tails growled. Eggman growled back. "I'm not here to be Sonic's sidekick, you nincompoop. I'm here to get rid of you both once and for all."

He pressed a button on his mobile, making a magnet drop down and pick up Burnbot. Sonic saw this, speeding up. Tails' face turns white with fear as he sees said bot. He dodges all of his attacks except one, he clipped his wing again and he was falling once more. Sonic's eyes widen in fear once again. But growled.

_No! Not again! I won't let it happen again!_

He sped up even faster, relieved that the plane crashed in Ice, however, it was sinking, and Tails was knocked out, his head laying on the wheel. Sonic skidded on the ice, calling out Tails' name. The plane started to sink faster, and burn bot's claw turned into a saw and started to cut the ice around Sonic. He looked at Tails, seeing he was coming to, he jumped on the plane, pulling him out and on the ice. The Tornado sank into the water, disappearing. Tails shook his head as Sonic stood up, looking at Tails.

"Tails, I didn't really want to fire you. I was just trying to protect you." Tails rolled his eyes at this. "How? By putting me in _more_ danger?"

Sonic shrugged. "The plan had holes!" Tails smiled at this, forgiving Sonic. Who helped him up, they got into a battle stance as Eggman returned with Burnbot. "Oh, Sonic? I have one last surprise for you. I took your advice. Burnbot _can_ burn things." He pointed to Burnbot, who put a ring of fire around the brothers, making the ice crack and melt, Tails flew up, but Sonic slipped in, thrashing around. "I can't swim!"

Tails quickly grabbed both of his arms, trying to pull him out, but he wouldn't. "You're waterlogged. I can't lift you."

"Don't worry about me, Bud." He snatched his arm away from Tails. Looking at him. "Get outta here."

Tails looked at Sonic for a short second, but tightened his grip on his other arm, tears pinching his eyes. "That's not how sidekicks do." He used his other hand to grab the same arm, trying to lift him up, but soon, they both got pulled in. Sonic floated there, closed eyes, accepting his fate, however, Tails had other plans. He used his tails to propeller Sonic out of the water and into the sky, where he let go as Sonic did a spin dash on Burnbot, making him sink into the water and destroying him. Tails caught him again, and they flew away. Eggman growled.

"I'll be back! With a new robot who has an accurate name. And super-laser eyes and he'll feed me ham. _Evil ham_."

It was later in the evening, Sonic, Tails, and Hina were watching the sunset, Hina's left leg was patched up in medical tape. Tails looked sorry at the fellow fox.

"Sorry I hurt you Hina." Hina shrugged it off, smiling. "No worries. I'm just glad Sonic found the perfect Sidekick."

"Speaking of which, what are the hours like?" He turned to Sonic. Who smiled back. "Well, it's seven days a week. But you get your own plane." Sonic joked back. The three laughed.


	2. Can an Evil Genuis Crash on Your Couch for a Few Days

It was a stormy night, Sonic and Tails were sleeping soundly on their respected beds in Tails' house. Soon a knock came to the door, making Sonic toss in his sleep, soon, it turned into banging. Sonic held his head. "Man!"

He rushed over to the door and opening it, revealing Eggman with a soaking trench coat on. "Hi."

"What do you want?"

"First of all, thank you for answering the door at such a late hour. I realize what an inconvenience this must be..."

"Get to it, Eggface." Sonic sighed. "Well, I... I uh... I need your help."

Sonic raised his brow. " _You_ need _my_ help?"

"Yes. My sinister Island lair, the ultra-high-tech stronghold where I hatch my schemes to eliminate you, it was destroyed in the storm. I was hoping I could crash with you and Tails for a few days until my robots rebuild it. Please, don't strand me in this wilderness."

"You certainly could use a roof over your head." Sonic soon sniffed the human. "And a bath. But how do I know you won't just capture me and Tails while we're sleeping?"

"I swear not to harm you or your fox friend during my stay. I didn't even bring any weapons. Here, check my pants." Eggman rose up against his coat a bit, Sonic covered his eyes. "No, no, no, it's ok. I believe you. So, it's only for a few days and it's just only _you_?"

"Just _me_." Sonic pointed to inside the house, looking at the red and yellow robots behind him. "And Orbot and Cubot. They're family." Sonic slammed the door, groaning.

The next day, Sonic yawned as he opened the door for Amy, Hina, Sticks, and Knuckles. They all look at Eggman shocked as he stretched.

"Eggman?!" Knuckles growled as they all got into fighting positions. "Oh, hey gang! Didn't know you'd be visiting so early. I'm still in my evil pajamas. They have a trap door in the back."

"Sonic, Explanation, _**now**_ ," Hina said, not looking at the hedgehog, only at Eggman. "We have a truce. Tails is letting him stay here till his lair is rebuilt." Sonic said, looking at the female fox.

"Still waiting on that salmon eggs Benedict."

"Coming. Coming." Tails rose the plate up as the group looked behind them. Tails brought the plate to Eggman, looking tired. Eggman looked at the plate, pointing at it. "I asked for egg _whites_. These are _yellows_! See the yellow? I'm trying to watch my cholesterol. And this salmon is farm-raised. What is this, prison?" Sonic growled, turning back. "No one talks to my brother like a maid you f-" Hina covered up his mouth as he started to swear at the man.

"It's all some evil plot, man. First, he lures us in with some terrible roommate ploy, but then wham, outcomes this 50-foot obliterator bot that...obliterates is all." Sticks said whole shaking Knuckles. "We gotta get outta here." Sticks finished.

"Guys, we have to help him. If we don't, we'll be no better than he is." Amy said sadly.

"I'm still on the fence. He's done some bad stuff in the past. Remember Sonic? 1992?" Hina raised an eyebrow as Sonic shuddered and nodded. Eggman quickly spoke up. "But yeah! You'll be no better than I am!"

"Think about how this is for him." Amy started as she walked towards Eggman. "Do you feel scared without a home? Do you feel alone? Are you eating your feelings"

"Somebody get her away from me."

"Guys, if Eggman needs to stay, he can stay." Tails said while washing the dishes. "Who knows, he might not be so bad after all."

Hina looked at Eggman smiling, thought for a moment, then smiled at the fox. "Then I'm staying too. I'll help you out, Captain! Full steam ahead!" Sonic nodded. "Same here." Tails nodded at this and smiled. "Thanks, Guys."

The next day, Hina and Tails was fixing his plane, when all of a sudden, "Pillow fight!" Eggman hit Tails with a pillow, hard. Tails stumbled as the lightbulb in his hand shattered on the ground.

Then Eggman kept on making messes while Sonic was trying to vacuum in the living room.

After that, he made the brothers and the female fox sleep on the hard floor while he got the couch and the bots got Tails' bed. Everyone covered their ears as Eggman snored and laughed in his sleep.

The next day, Sticks tried to get something from the fridge but saw everything was locked up by Eggman.

At night, the trio was sleeping soundly, until Eggman threw a pillow at them.

That lead to now, the trio sitting on Tails' couch, looking not happy at all. "That's it. I've had enough of Eggman. Lair or no Lair he's out of here."

"You can't just throw Eggman out." Amy reasoned. "Sure, he might be a difficult roommate, but it's only because you guys have a communication problem."

"Communication problem? He whacked me with a pillow. Hard. I'm dizzy, and I have serious short-term memory loss." Sonic looked sadly at his brother and sighed as he knew what was coming next. "I have serious short-term memory loss." Tails repeated.

"Why don't we settle this with a roommate meeting?" Amy suggested.

"While you guys do that, I'll go-"Hina rushed to the door, but was stopped by Amy. "Hina, you're staying," Hina growled at that.

"Now, Sonic, do you have to say something you liked to share with Eggman?" Amy started off. "Yes. How to say this delicately...You're a horrible roommate. Nobody in this house likes you." Hina laughed and high fives Sonic as Amy glared at the hedgehog and fox. "Let's frame our statements with ' _When you do this it makes me feel this._ '"

"Fine. Alright." Hina shifted. "When you live here, it makes me feel angry. You're a horrible roommate. Nobody likes you." It was Sonic's turn to laugh. All of a sudden, Eggman started to cry, making Hina blink in surprise. "What the-? Now come on! You know this! Why are you crying?!"

"You're right. I am the worst roommate. I've never lived with other people before."

"What about us?" Cubot questioned.

"You don't count," Eggman said harshly.

"Sonic, I think someone here could go for two spoonfuls of forgiveness. Washed down with a tall glass of friendship." Amy smiled, even though Sonic crosses his arms and turned away. He groaned. "Eggman, if we give you a second chance, will you promise to shape up?"

"You bet!"

"Roommate meeting group hug!"

" **No**." Hina, Sonic, and Tails said as they walked away.

In the morning, Sonic and Hina yawned as they walk to see Eggman singing while washing the dishes, they both silently laugh and smirk.

_Scrubbin' all the dishes_

_With my sponge and soap_

_Scrubbin' all the dishes_

_It's clean enough, I hope_

The next few days were pretty fun for them, however, Hina, Sonic, and

Tails were getting more tired by each night since Eggman wanted to stay up late and play with them. Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks walked in one day to see everyone so tired.

"You're still hanging with Eggman? How many hours of sleep did you get?" Knuckles asked.

"Zero." Sonic sighed as he let Tails sleep on his lap while slowly stroking his hair, Hina quietly snored and rested against Sonic. "It's Stage Two of his evil plot, man! We are minutes away from him summoning his big with its... obliterator legs, and its obliter-bator feet!" Sticks said jumping up and down.

"Sticks... stop being paranoid! Eggman's lived here for two days, and he hasn't hatched a single evil scheme!" Eggman is heard laughing from outside, having slipped out the door while Amy was talking. Everyone goes outside, Sonic had Tails on his back, but he and Hina still moved much slower. "What's so funny...?" Tails managed to speak out.

"Remember when I said my island fortress was destroyed by a storm? I... uh... may have fibbed. You see, I kind of faked the destruction of my fortress as an excuse to live with you and tire you to the point of exhaustion! So you'd be too tired to stop Obliterator Bot!" Eggman is forced to jump out of the way as Obliterator Bot pushes over the tree he was standing in front of.

Everyone but Sonic, Tails, and Hina got into a fighting stance. "I knew it. He did have an Obliterator Bot! Why doesn't anyone ever believe me?!"

"Enough! Obliterator Bot, destroy Sonic and his five friends!"

"For-tress? Fortress. Destroy fortress. Destroy island fortress."

"What? No! That's not what I said!" Orbot chuckled. "We're still working out a few kinks."

"Obliterator Bot, do not destroy island fortress! _**DO NOT DESTROY ISLAND FORTRESS!**_ "

"Affirmative. Playing up-tempo music while destroying fortress."

"No!" Eggman ran over to Sonic. "Sonic, you have to help me!"

"Why? He's your Obliterator Bot."

"Because if you don't, I'm truly stuck living with you until I build a new island fortress." Sonic's eyes widen as he nodded. "Let's roll." He said, noticing Tails was falling a bit so he nudged him up some.

Tails' plane lands outside Eggman's lair, with the Eggmobile coming up behind. Above, Obliterator Bot is hammering away at Eggman's lair. "Gotta stop him... but so tired..." Tails yawned.

"Full...Steam...Ahead.." Hina fell to the ground, sleeping. "He must have a weak spot." Knuckles said.

"Maybe there's a clue on the ground...This soft... soft... bed-like... ground..." Sonic sank as he said, quickly falling asleep. Sticks runs over and stomps on Sonic, who instantly awakens. "What?! What's wrong?! Are we under attack?!" He looks around and scratches his head. "Oh... right." He yawns.

"Eggman, you built that thing. How do we take it down?"

"By activating two kill switches at the same time. They're inside the lair." He points in two different directions.

"Oh, come on... All right. Amy, Knuckles, Sticks, Hina, distract that metal monstrosity. Tails and I are on the kill switches. Eggman, you'll have to show us how to activate them." Sonic tugs Tails and Hina up. Eggman nods.

Amy reaches her arms out. "Pre-mission group hug?"

"No," Sonic says, taking off. Sonic runs through a laser defense system. Lasers fire around him, but none hit. Tails flies down to a control panel and activates it. He pushes a power switch causing a laser wall in front of Sonic to deactivate. A near miss from two lasers causes Sonic to start sliding. His exhaustion catches up with him again and he falls asleep mid-slide. Tails deactivates the second laser wall just in time as Sonic slides through and comes to a stop, waking up again. Tails opens an access panel full of wires but is too tired to figure them out. Sonic approaches a door, but drops to the ground and falls asleep right in front of it. Tails pushes a button next to the access panel, which opens the kill switch doors. Eggman suddenly stomps next to Sonic, waking him up again.

"Jam the kinetic barrier processor. The kinetic barrier processor!" Sonic looks confused, so he just pulls the lever, which seems to do the trick. Eggman runs off to check, then runs over to Tails. "Okay. Power down the central operating system."

Eggman grabs Tails and puts his hand around the switch, making him pull it. Sonic, however, is too tired to stay standing and falls to the floor asleep again, releasing the switch. Outside, Knuckles, Amy, Hina, and Sticks are confronting Obliterator Bot.

"I'm so tired...." Hina yawns, taking out her red and white baseball bat. "I knew you were coming. But you will never obliterate Sticks because Sticks is unoblite— unoble— unobitababl... You can't kill me." Sticks says proudly.

" _ **Jam the Kinetic Barrier Processor!**_ " Sonic does so but winds up falling asleep again. Eggman looks back and forth between the sleeping Sonic and Tails, then blows the kazoo. The kazoo instantly awakens Sonic and Tails and scares away all the birds perched on Eggman's lair. Sonic and Tails pull the kill switches, which causes Obliterator Bot to shut down. Sonic races between Obliterator Bot's legs, with a large piece of metal. He then jumps into the air. "Pillow Fight!"

Sonic knocks Obliterator Bot's head off with the piece of metal, causing it to explode. "Yes!" Suddenly, the rest of Eggman's lair explodes as well. "No...!"

The group shrugs, Sonic perches Tails on his back while Amy and Sticks help Hina back to civilization.

Now everyone well-rested, they're sitting on the beach looking out into the waves. "H-hey, fellas. As you know, my fortress is now a smoking ruin, so I was wondering, maybe..." he sits on one of the reclining chairs. "if I could stay with you guys for a little while. Just until it's built back?" Hina smirks and raises her eyebrow.

"What do ya say Sonic? Tails? Want to let him stay?" Sonic runs to his destroyed fortress, dropping Eggman, the chair, and his suitcases all at once. Amy, Orbot, and Cubot walk up. Amy is holding a balloon. "I can keep you company! Let's explore your feelings about being a roommate. Now, pretend this balloon is your self-esteem."

"Stop, stop! _**Stooooooop!**_ "


	3. Translate This

Sonic and Amy are lounging under an umbrella. Nearby, Knuckles and Sticks are playing volleyball, and Hina was surfing out in the ocean, sporting a nice white wetsuit. "There's nothing like a lazy day on the beach."

Hina came up to the shore, her white surfboard under her arm. "You said it." Sticks sighed. "It's nice to breathe in that beautiful saltwater air and relax. For the first time, I feel totally stress-free."

" _Hey, guys!_ " Tails greets as Sticks jumped up in surprise. Tails arrives, pushing something covered by a cloth bag. "I just perfected my most brilliant invention yet. Meet UT, the Universal Translator. Designed to translate any language into our own."

Tails uncover Universal Translator. Sonic, Amy, and Sticks look at it, seemingly unimpressed. While Hina smiles at it, sticking her surfboard in the sand and coming close to it. "It's so cute!" She giggled.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Tails turned it on. Tails directs everyone's attention to a mother bird feeding her babies nearby. Universal Translator watches them for a while, then turns around. " **The fact that you pre-chew my food is repulsive.** "

"Hey-ey-ey! It works!"

"Wow! That's amazing Tails!" Hina clasped her hands together. " **Didn't see that one coming,** " UT said. Hina backed up. "What- huh?"

"Um... it's still talking?"

" **I thought this thing only translated birds.** " Hina looks at the machine weirdly. "Since what you're saying doesn't need to be translated, UT is translating it into what you really mean!"

" **I didn't intend for it to do that, but I will gladly accept full credit.** "

"That's great, Tails!" Amy smiles.

" **Pretty lame.** "

"That's not what I was thinking at all."

" **Man, I am totally busted.** " Hina looks at Amy who nervously smiles back. "Tails? I think it needs some more work."

" **If that thing doesn't shut its metal trap, I think I might die.** "

"Wait... this thing reads minds?" Sticks questioned. " **Wait. This thing reads minds.** "

" _ **GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!**_ "

" **Get it out of my head.** " Sticks pulls out her boomerang and is about to attack UT, but Knuckles restrains her. "Now, now! Calm down, Sticks!"

" **Take it easy, whack-job.** "

" _Hey!_ "

" **I am displeased.** "

"Don't be offended, Sticks. Knuckles didn't mean to think that." Sonic tried to calm the two down. " **He's not the sharpest tool in the shed.** " Knuckles growled at Sonic.

"Tails, I think it's best if you shut that thing off. We don't want it to reveal anything too... sensitive." Amy put her hand on her hip as she looks at him sternly. " **Shut that thing up before it tells Sonic that I--** " It didn't have time to finish since Tails turned it off. Everyone looked at Amy. "Uh, what was he saying?" Sonic asked.

" _ **Nothing!**_ Nothing important!" Amy chuckled as Tails looked down, Hina noticed this and knelt down and put her hands on his shoulders, making him lookup. "It's fine Tails, it just needs work," Hina reassured, Tails smiled but looked behind her to see all of his friends displeased. A ways away, a drone in the shape of a bug is recording the scene.

"Very interesting. It seems Tails' new invention is creating friction between Sonic and his friends." Eggman said.

"Yeah, and they're not getting along either," Cubot added. "This gives me an idea. If I build a duplicate robot to replace the original, I could have it say whatever I want! They'll be at each other's throats in no time! And with the group divided, I can destroy them once and for all!" Eggman starts laughing evilly, Cubot and Orbot join in, he glared at them. "Don't laugh with me. You're ruining it."

It was now night, Tails was getting ready for bed. "Wow, UT. My friends normally love my inventions. I can't believe you had such a lousy debut."

" **I blame myself.** "

"No, no. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. After all, I was the one who-- oh wait. You were just saying my thoughts, huh?" Tails laughed. "At least Hina still thinks you have a chance." Tails said quietly. " **I feel like such a dummy.** "

He shut UT off and got into bed. "Things'll go better tomorrow, I promise. Good night, UT." Tails lays down and falls asleep. Orbot and Cubot sneak in while Tails is sleeping, and switch out UT for a duplicate. Tails stirs but falls asleep again. Orbot and Cubot sneak out, leaving the duplicate UT behind.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy are lounging under the umbrella while Sticks and Hina are playing volleyball. Sticks sees Tails coming with "UT" and looks annoyed. "Okay, I know things got off on the wrong foot yesterday, but I--"

"Tails, I think it would be best if you turned UT off."

" _Sonic,_ " Hina said softly, glaring at him. " **Amy Rose is a big dope.** "

"Oh! So _now_ that's what you're thinking?" Amy glared. "Wh-what? No, not even close!"

" **And her hair stinks! What does she shampoo with yogurt from the back of the fridge?** "

" _ **Why would you even** **say that?!**_ " Amy stomped over to Sonic who raised his hands. "But I didn't say that! He did!"

"Sure, you didn't." Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Knuckles, _stop_ ," Hina warned.

" **I'm stupid.** " Hina looked at UT hurt. "Hey! I'm not stupid!"

" **And... um... I'm ugly too, but not as ugly as Sticks.** "

" _Hey!_ " Sticks growled and started to attack Hina, she tried to push her off to the best of her ability, Tails covered his mouth and stepped back, his ears folded down. "I know my friends wouldn't think such horrible thoughts about each other... maybe UT's malfunctioning?"

Tails uses a screwdriver to open up "UT."

"What the heck? I didn't install a remote speaker!" The remote speaker is shown. It has Eggman's logo on it. Tails rips it out. "You guys, stop! We've been duped! Eggman swiped UT and replaced him with this imposter!" They all look at Tails, Knuckles let go of Sticks and Hina. "We've gotta save the real UT!"

Tails starts to run off but realizes that no one is following him. "...Don't you guys _wanna_ get UT back?"

Sonic sighed and looked at Tails sadly. "Thing is, bud, that robot of yours just makes us fight all the time."

"It's evil, I tell ya!" Tails looked at Sonic, then Hina. "...Hina?" Hina walked up to Tails and place her hand on his shoulder while kneeling down a bit.

"I'm sorry, Tails. But, maybe it's best that we leave this robot-" He slapped her hand away, shocking the group. "Fine. I see how it is. I'll go get him back myself!"

Tails runs off, ignoring the calls of Hina and Sonic, drying his wet eyes with his forearm. Hina growled and whipped around. " _What was that?_ You guys know how sensitive he is!"

"Wasn't our fault his robot failed," Amy said, looking away from her book. "But we could have said something supportive about it!" Amy glared.

"I did! I told him it was great!" Hina glared back. "But is that _really_ what you meant?" The pink hedgehog looked away, a guilty look on her face.

"Thanks to all of you, Tails might be hurt, or worse. Heck, he might not even want to talk to us again." She mainly glared at Sticks, Amy, and Sonic. She walked to her boathouse, which was docked right next to Sonic's beach shack, near the shore. "Hope you're all happy." She climbed up on the deck, slamming her wooden door.

Tails runs up Eggman's Island. Peering around a corner, he spots a patrolling Motobug. He pulls back just as the Motobug turns in his direction. The Motobug comes to investigate, but Tails smacks it with a wrench, breaking it. Tails moves on. Inside, Eggman is holding out a cake to UT. It is shaped like his face. "Would you like another slice of cake?"

" **What a beautiful cake. I hope no one sits on it.** " Eggman sets the cake on a table. At that moment, Tails comes in through a skylight, landing right on it. "Eggman!"

" **Landing in that cake really hurt my credibility.** "

"Not now, UT!" Tails throws a cake slice, shutting UT off. "Give me back my robot!"

"Or what?" Tails thought for a moment. "...That's a fair question." More robots enter. Tails is surrounded. "Where's that blue loser? And the rest of your friends?"

"I'm here alone! I came to negotiate the release of my robot, UT!"

" _Negotiate?_ Usually, we just battle until the losing party... sometimes you, sometimes me, it's about a fifty-fifty split... retreats to his lair!"

"Let's pretend that's true and that you don't always lose. In exchange for the safe return of my robot, I'm prepared to offer my services as your lab assistant." Eggman raised his eyebrow. "Intriguing... with two mechanical geniuses under one roof, I'd raise my win ratio well above the fifty-fifty mark that we both agreed earlier was completely accurate."

"Then it's a deal?" Tails said hopefully. Eggman pats Orbot's Head. "I'll have Orbot draw up a contract. This will be delicious! Having one of Sonic's friends helping me build the tools that will destroy him!"

"It's ripe with irony, your evilness! Sonic won't know what hit him!" Orbot replied. "But wait. The moment Sonic realizes you're missing, he'll come bursting through that door with that circus troupe he calls friends and put a damper on all the fun!"

"I've already thought of that. Since you're letting UT go, I'll just send a message along with him." Tails smiles, a plan already forming in mind. "Good thinking, number two!"

Tails pushes a button on UT, activating a video recorder. He takes a deep breath, making his goggles fall in front of his face, he lifts them back up. "Hey gang, its Tails. I'm going to be staying with Eggman. No need to rescue me, I'm one hundred percent _safe_ and _happy_." He shuts it off and sends it on its way, he couldn't help but think back to Sonic, sure he would think Tails is betraying him, but he knew what he was doing.

Speaking of which, The gang was trying to talk Hina out of her house, but they pause when UT arrives, making Hina come out. "Hey, it's Tails' missing robot," Amy says.

"We found him! When you see Tails, tell him we looked everywhere for a long time." Knuckles said, making Hina roll her eyes.

"Or we can just recycle the thing and take a blood oath never to tell a soul!" Everyone stares at Sticks. " _What?_ Just spitballin' here."

Suddenly the video plays.

" _Hey gang, its Tails. I'm going to be staying with Eggman. No need to rescue me, I'm one hundred percent safe and happy._ "

Sonic's eyes widen as he backed up. " _No_...no way."

"I didn't know we hurt Tails that bad..." Amy said sadly.

" _ **REALLY?!**_ " Hina yelled. Suddenly, UT made a noise, making everyone shut up. " **I snuck in Eggman's lair to save my robot. It was awesome. You should have seen me. Anyways, I need you to come to rescue me now. Sorry for the inconvenience.** "

Everyone sighed in content. "Wow. UT really came in handy."

"Maybe it's not as dumb an invention as we thought."

"Yeah, but we should still smash it. Just to be safe."

"No time for that now! We've gotta go save Tails!" Sonic said worriedly. The gang nodded, Hina grabbed her baseball bat and smirked.

Eggman was working on a broken bee bot, he turns to Tails. "Tails, be a doll and plug my drill into that outlet over there?" The outlet in question is sparking wildly. "Uh... that doesn't look very safe."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I'm having _you_ do it." Tails gulps and does so, his fur-raising up as it continues to spark, just before he gets electrocuted, an alarm went off. " _Sonic._ " He smiled and whispered.

A monitor pops down, revealing Sonic and the others have arrived. Sonic smashes a Bee-Bot. Amy hammers a Crab Bot. Sticks dodges blasts from another Bee-Bot until it is crushed by Knuckles. Hina knocks a Crab bot over and continues to demolish it. A Motobug races by, only to be smashed by Sonic. UT tries to translate this but fails. Amy and Sticks crush a third Bee-Bot between them by kicking it at the same time. A door opens behind them, revealing Eggman and Tails. "We're here to save our friend from your evil clutches."

"Wait, what? No! Tails and I have a contract!"

"Here's the lab assistant contract! Ready to be signed!" Orbot said cheerfully. Tails just laughs and walks over to Sonic, who gives him a noogie. "Good to have you back Lil' bro."

"Fine. Lucky thing I always have a Plan B." Eggman pushes buttons on his wrist controller, summoning the Mega. Tails and Knuckles are attacked by more Bee-Bots. Hina pulls her bat and tries to attack the Mega, but it knocks her bat away. It then tries to crush Hina. "Hina, look out!" Sonic races up, getting her out of the way just in time. They stop a safe distance away. "That was close."

" **I care about your well-being.** " Hina stands up and puts her hands on her hips. "Do ya now?" She smirks. Sonic gives her a grin, then runs back to attack the Mega. His spin, however, bounces harmlessly off the Mega's shoulder. The Mega's counterattack knocks Sonic away. Knuckles punches at the Mega, to no avail, and growls. He then tries to grab it, but also to no avail. Eggman chuckled. "Tails! Deploy the photon bombs!"

Tails dodges a blast from a Bee-Bot, then gives Eggman a look. "...Oh, right."

Eggman activates them himself. Three-photon bombs circle around Sonic and his friends. One lands near Tails, blowing up the Bee-Bot attack him and sending Tails flying. "Tails!" Sonic says, looking back, he rushes and catches him, stopping him from flying off the cliff. "Sticks! Set Knuckles up!"

Sticks hits the third bomb into the air with her boomerang. Knuckles leaps up and does a volleyball spike to drive the bomb into the Mega's eye. The bomb explodes, sending the Mega backward to topple over the cliff and plunge into the ocean. "No! Daaah...!" Eggman goes into the lair that seals up. Tails rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks for the rescue, guys. And I'm sorry for being such a nuisance with UT."

" _Actually_ , UT let us know where you were, Tails." Sonic smiled. "I think we'll be going on lots more adventures with UT from now on." Hina nodded.

"I agree."

" **I'm going to destroy that stupid robot.** " Sticks grabs UT and throws it into the ocean. Tails glares at her. "Sorry, Tails. Had to be done."


	4. Buster

It's a seemingly nice day. Mike the Ox is about to lick some ice cream he got from the Ice Cream Vendor, but a burst of the flame melts it. The Ice Cream Vendor flees. Sonic pops put behind the stand, pulls the bull to safety behind it, then jumps out, ready for action.

Sonic is facing off with a robot that appears to be a fireman, but is armed with a flamethrower. It shoots a burst of flame at Sonic, but he dodges it and spins into the robot. He spins into it again and bounces away. "Doctor Eggman's evil fireman robot is running loose!"

Eggman looks up from reading a newspaper on a nearby bench. "Why does everyone assume every evil robot is mine?"

Sonic bounced off of the robot again. "I dunno. Experience?" Sonic leaps up to avoid another burst of fire. Knuckles, armed with a large stick, and Amy, armed with her hammer, step up. Hina with her baseball bat isn't far behind.

"You're " _fired_ ", pal. Hahaha! Get it?" Knuckles joked, but the bot turned Knuckles' stick into ashes. "Ah, I guess not."

Hina leaned up against her baseball bat and raised her hand. "Uh, I might be stupid or something, but shouldn't firemen _PUT OUT_ fires instead of...y'know, _making_ them?"

"Ah, hello? That's the irony? It's the evil opposite of a fireman." Eggman clarified Sonic glared at him. "Ah, uh... I assume..." he quickly said.

"Sonic, the evil anti-fire bot is putting a baby walrus into a burning house!" Sticks yelled. Sonic races over and snatches the baby walrus away before Fire-Bot can do so, returning him to his mother. "Sonic, Evil anti-fire Bot is putting a kitten in a tree!"

"Go, evil fireman!" Tails, Hina, Amy, and Sticks glare at Eggman. "Okay, I admit it. It's mine. Evil robots are what I do. Why stop if you're good at it?"

Firebot started to shoot flames everywhere. "This has gone on long enough."

Sonic races over, running circles around Fire-Bot and wrapping it in its own "fire hose." Its flamethrower explodes, destroying it. "I, um... left the oven on." Eggman rushes away.

"Heh. Looks like that robot is " _fired!_ " Everyone except Knuckles laughs.

"Hey! No one laughed when I said it..." The gang stops when they heard a small meow, They look up to see the cat. "Oops, guys, we forgot someone." Hina pointed to the tree.

"Right. Sticks, could you get that kitten out of the tree?" Sonic asked.

"Sure thing, Sonic." Sticks runs over and starts shaking the tree, terrifying the kitten. "Um, Sticks? Sticks? _Sticks_!"

The kitten falls out of the tree and bounces off Sonic's head. Sonic catches it. "What?"

Everyone was now at Tails' house. "Sticks, we want to talk about how you treat animals." Sonic starts.

"It's not a good idea to shake kittens out of trees." Amy agreed.

"I know the law of the jungle. Trees are "no-kitten zones"."

"That's a real law?" Knuckles questioned. Tails face-palms and groaned. Hina pats his shoulder and smiled, but her face lit up, her golden eyes shining. "Oh! Idea~! Sticks should get a pet! It would help her to love animals!"

"I agree. Don't you, Sonic?" Amy asked.

"Yes, absolutely."

"Then you can take Sticks pet shopping right now!" Amy said overjoyed. Sonic violently shakes his head. " _No. Absolutely not._ " Tails smirked.

"Pet shopping was never really Sonic's thing, to begin with, trust me, I remember back when I first started living with him, I begged him to get me a dog." Tails chuckled at their memory. "He could never do it."

"Then I will. Come on, Sticks!" Hina jumped up and dragged Sticks out the door, Hina winked. "We'll be back with a pet in no time!"

"I hate cute, fuzzy, and adorable pets." Sticks groaned as Hina chuckled. "Sticks, all pets are pretty much like that." A trashcan nearby suddenly shakes, putting Sticks on high alert. She peers into the trashcan and pulls out a robotic dog. "Oh my gosh, what is that?!" Hina backs up.

"It's... oh, it's..."

"Trash? Disgusting? Evil?"

"The least objectionable option!" Sticks starts to love on it, leaving Hina to tilt her head in confusion. "Aww, who's a little cluster-wuster?"

The "dog" barks. "I'm gonna name him "Buster"!"

" _Buster_ ", the " _Cluster_ "...?" A spray of slimy "drool" splatters on Hina's face, making Hina retaliate. Sticks hugs Buster close.

They all decided to hang out at Sticks house as Sticks shows everyone her new pet. "Sticks, when I said get a pet, I didn't think you'd come back with something so--"

"Wonderful?" Buster drops the bone, spraying another stream of slimy drool. " _Ucky_." Knuckles finishes for Hina.

"Sticks, are you sure you want to keep this... Cluster?" Sonic asks.

"Ahem. It's " _Buster_." Finally, I have an adorable little pet that doesn't disgust me!" Sticks says happily. Buster belches, spraying slime on Tails.

"Eww... Buster got slime in my fur!" Tails growled.

"Welcome to my world." Hina rolls her eyes. Sticks wasn't having any of it. "That just means he woves you." She kissed Buster, getting slime on her mouth.

"That's it. I'm out. That is just plain disgusting." Hina walks out.

After a few weeks, Buster was making more trouble than a real pet would, They're having lunch a meh-burger. Hina sits down and slams her head on a table. Sonic peers over. "Rough day?"

" _You have no idea._ " She replied. Her words muffled.

"Who's a hungry little Cluster? Who's a hungry-wungry Cluster-Wuster, huh?"

"Would Buster like a french fry? I don't want any. They've got slime on 'em!" Tails growled as he pointed out. "Ah-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na! We only eat organic garbage now, don't we, Buster?"

An explosion comes from a warehouse. Orbot and Cubot exit, wearing crudely designed masks of Sonic and Tails. Hina looks up. "Heh. Nice Masks."

Sonic runs over. "Look, it's Sonic. Let's grab the boxes and go." Orbot exclaims.

"Henchbots, you take care of them!" Cubot yells as they make their great escape. Hina pulled out her baseball bat, spinning it in her hand and rushing over. The Bee-Bots fly at Sonic, who tries to swat them away. Hina tries to destroy them. Tails, Knuckles, and Amy run over.

"They've gone 'round back. Someone stop them!" Hina growled.

"I've got 'em." Knuckles replies. He, Amy, and Tails are also confronted by the Bee-Bots. Sticks walks over, carrying Buster. "Quick, Sticks, run around back and head 'em off." Sonic commands.

"I don't wanna put Buster in danger! Besides, it's his walk time."

"I...You- _ **WHAT?!**_ " Hina slams her bat down in frustration, her tail puffing up in anger. Sticks puts a leash on Buster and goes off with him. Sonic looks on in disbelief, then goes airborne, spinning into two of the Bee-Bots. When he lands, he spots Orbot and Cubot leaving with more boxes.

Sonic zooms after them, but Buster gets away from Sticks and goes in the same direction. Sonic ends up tripping over Buster and faceplanting into the dirt. Buster walks over and licks Sonic's cheek again, much to his disgust. Sticks picks him up and walks away. Hina glares at Sticks, Fire in her eyes.

"We have to talk," Amy said to Sticks, everyone was at Tails house, Hina still had the fire in her eyes as she growled at Sticks. Tails waved a hand in front of Hina's eyes, no reaction, Tails shrugged at the group. "Oh no..." Sticks sighs.

"I'm afraid so, Sticks."

"You brought him a Cluster sock for our one week anniversary. But you didn't know I already made him one." Sticks said worriedly. Everyone stayed silent for a moment, Hina slammed her hands on Tails' table, scaring the life out of the poor fox cub. " _ **No!**_ Buster's getting in the way of everything! He ruined our chance to stop those robots!"

"Ugh, he got slime all over my equipment!" Tails whined as he held up a wrench covered in slime. Buster drools more slime at Tails' feet.

Sticks glares at Hina. "First you say you want me to have a pet, then you say you don't want me to have a pet. I know what's going on here. A massive government mind-control experiment!"

"That's... one theory. The other is, we just want you to discipline him. Show some--" Amy suddenly screams as Buster is on her head, drooling right in her face. " _ **Forget it!**_ Either Buster goes, or we do!"

"Well, if Buster goes, I go! And I'm not _**going!**_ "

"Oh. I guess that means we go." The others start to leave but suddenly stop. "Wait. This is _my_ house." Tails says. Eggman randomly pops in. "Oh, hello! I was just stopping by with a present for your little cluster." He holds a box.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Hina, and Amy look surprised. Sticks, however, looks excited. "A present? For Buster?"

"Wait...How did you know about Bust-"

"Since little Buster here was created in my lab, I still feel like a father to him."

"You created Buster?" Sonic questioned. "I did. And now I want to give him this little present!" He opened the box to reveal a bone. Hina was trying to piece it all together. Buster suddenly leaps out of Sticks' arms and grabs the robotic bone. Buster eats the bone. Hina finally got it and ran towards Sticks.

"Sticks! Drop the dog!" Buster transforms into a monstrous form with tentacles, he grabs Hina, making her drop her bat with a clunk. The team gasps. "Is that the tentacle you stole from the warehouse?" Sonic questioned.

"Oh please. I used that tentacle as a backscratcher. When I was done scratching, I used it to build him."

Buster attacks Sonic, but Sonic manages to avoid the attacks and runs over to the others. "Hey guys, I think I'm gonna need a little help with the Cluster here."

"No! Don't make me hurt my beloved Buster!" Sticks wailed, making Hina yell. "Sticks! If you don't help I will personally _**kill you myself!**_ "

Knuckles charges out and uses the ground pound, but this doesn't faze Buster, who approaches menacingly. Knuckles gulps and gets seized by one of Buster's tentacles. Amy charged with her hammer but is also seized as well.

"Tails!" Hina warned as one of Buster's tentacles wrapped around one of Tails' legs. " _ **Ahh!**_ "

Sonic was quick to grab Tails' hands, trying to yank him away, however, it wasn't enough, the pair got seized as well. Hina then got an idea. "Sticks! Buster won't attack you!"

"Aww, that's sweet!"

"No, I mean if there's any way you can stop him, now's the time!" Sticks finally stepped up. "Buster, don't do this. You're good inside! Remember all the times we had...wait...I don't remember those..."

"And now, my Clustery friend... Finish them!" Eggman yelled. Buster pulls Tails in, preparing to eat him first, making Tails squirm in fear.

" _ **Tails!**_ " Sonic and Hina said worriedly. Seeing how scared her friends were, Sticks growls. " _ **BUSTER, NO!**_ "

Everyone heads snap towards Sticks. "No eat friends! Bad Cluster! Bad Cluster!" Buster wilts under her discipline.

"What? No! Good Cluster! Eat friends!"

"Buster, _sit_!" Sticks commands.

"No! _Stand_! Be evil!"

Sticks continues to glare at Buster, who finally puts down Sonic and the others. Sonic rushes over to Tails. "You okay, Lil' bro?" Tails nodded and got up with Sonic's help.

" _ **No!**_ " Eggman wails. "Buster, take out the trash!" She points to Eggman. Buster charges at Eggman. Eggman tries to flee, but Buster catches him and starts swinging him around. "I'm never making one of these _agaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnn_ \--" Eggman is flung by Buster.

"Now give the bone back." Buster spits up the robotic bone and returns to his original form. Sticks gets a faceful of slime. The others recoil, but then start laughing. Sticks can only smile sheepishly.

The next day, everyone was gathered around Buster. "Buster, it turns out you were an evil robot. So, maybe you're not pet material. I guess this is goodbye." Sticks put a hobo pack on Buster who walks away. "Have fun out there in the big world." She waved.

Hina put a hand on Sticks' shoulder. "I'm sorry Sticks, I know how much you loved Buster. I'm also sorry about how I got upset with you."

"Ah, don't sweat it. After all, pets aren't my thing."

"Speaking of pets." Tails smirks at Sonic. Who looks at Tails, then back at Buster, then back at Tails. "Wha- Oh. Oh no, _no, no, no._ " The pair starts walking away.

"Oh come on! It could be a robotic dog-like Buster!"

"Definitely not!" Tails lept in front of Sonic, giving him the puppy dog eyes and wagging his tails. Sonic scoffed and gave him a noogie. Making the team laugh as Tails squirmed under Sonic's grasp.


	5. My Fair Sticksy

Meteors are raining down on the village, sending the villagers scrambling in panic. Team Sonic is watching this.

"Meteors are shooting stars. We shouldn't be running. We should be making wishes!" Amy says smiling. "I wish for a pony!"

"And I wish you'd take cover," Sonic says quickly. Sonic grabs Amy's arm and runs for cover, followed by Tails, Hina, Knuckles, and Sticks. A meteor hits where they just left. They are soon under the shelter of a building. "How come your wish came true?" Sonic smirks.

"Should I use my meteor defense system?" Sticks asks.

" _You_ have a meteor defense system?" Tails questions. Sticks taps all kinds of levers. "I have defense systems for all sorts of junk. Wildfires, floods, people trying to read my thoughts."

"Yeah, start with the meteor one," Sonic said quickly. Sticks takes aim at an incoming meteor and pulls a lever. A series of wooden paddles pop up and start swatting the meteors away. "The ‘people trying to read my thoughts’ one is exactly the same, but with tinfoil trim."

Everyone was hanging out at Tails' House, Tails chatting with Hina on the sofa, Sonic getting him and Amy something to drink, and Knuckles lounging around, Sticks enters the house carrying an envelope. "Someone left this at my house."

"Yeah, the _mailman_. It's a letter?" Sonic says dryly as he grabs two soda cans and places them on the counter. Sticks sniffs it. "Letter, huh? I don't know. Paper folded over itself? What's it hiding? What's it hiding?"

Amy grabs the letter from Sticks and opens it. She then gasps in surprise. "Sticks, you've been nominated for an Awardy Award!"

"They really need a better name for that thing." Tails says sarcastically. Hina grabs the letter and reads it.

" _In honor of saving our village, Mayor cordially invites you to the Awardies." Huh, conveniently, you can also bring your five closest pals. The Awardies will be at the Mayor's Mansion. You'll dine on--_ " Ooh. " _Elegant food and mingle with elegant guests. After which the Awardy Award will be awarded to the winner. Which could be you!_ "

"I can't make it." Hina sighs with relief as she hands Sonic the letter. "Oh good, cause neither can I."

"What? Why?" Amy looks at the pair.

"I have surfing," Hina says.

"And I'm slammed this week. _Tuesday: Rummage through garbage. Wednesday: Rummage through garbage. Thursday: Get tetanus shot. Friday: Rummage through garbage._ I'm booked solid."

"This is the honor of a lifetime!" Amy argues.

"You might even win a shiny trophy! You love shiny things..." Tails smirked.

"I do love shiny things... But! No. No! Nuh-uh! Nah!"

"Sticks... are you _afraid_ to go?" Amy smiled. Sticks violently shakes her head. " _Afraid_? No! Of course not! No way. Nuh-uh. Nope! ... _A little._ "

"Sticks, there's nothing to fear," Hina says, leaning behind the counter. "Look at me. I'm a _feral badger_! I'll embarrass myself!"

"Who cares what people think?" Sonic shrugs his shoulder.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. I'll teach you to be a lady." Amy smiles. "A... lady? That's the thing that holds garbage, right?"

" _No!_ A lady is a polite, sophisticated member of society." Sticks growls. "If I have to learn to be a lady, so does Hina!"

Hina laughs. "Welp. You guys have fun with that." She slides over the counter and starts to walk out. Sonic nods to Tails, who flys over and slams the doors, pushing her towards Amy and Sticks.

"Guys! _**No!**_ I'm not doing this!"

"Come on! You can do this." They both growl.

"Fine."

"Alright."

"Great! A proper lady requires an escort for the gala." Amy smiles.

" _ **I CALL SONIC!**_ " Hina says quickly. " _No._ " He says flatly.

"Please, Sonic! I need you!"

"No." Hina gets down on her knees and puts her hands together. "Please, please, please, please, please, please, please!"

"You're not gonna stop until I say yes...right?"

"Yup." Hina nodded. "Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please!"

"Eh... fine. But I'm not wearing pants!" Hina gets up and hugs Sonic. " _Ahh!_ Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Fine, then Sticks gets Tails." Amy points to him. "Why me?"

"Because you're the same height as her."

"Oh."

"Now Sticks, Hina. If you want to be a lady, you'll have to train hard. You up for it?"

"Yes!"

"Aye, Aye, Captain!"

They started to train that day at Amy's house. "When meeting someone new, start with a compliment. Try saying something nice about their perfume."

Sticks sniffed Amy. "You don't stink." Amy smiles nervously.

Sonic and Hina are preparing to practice a fancy entrance. Amy is holding a stopwatch. "And...Go!"

Sonic and Hina walk forward. A standee of a fancy person pops up. Hina blinks, she gulps as trips over her words as Amy face-palms.

Amy and Sticks are holding teacups. "When in doubt, pinkies out." Amy extends her pinky finger and drinks from the teacup. Sticks extends her own pinky. Amy nods, Sticks starts lapping up the tea like a dog.

"And this is where I draw the line." Hina turns her back, sticking her muzzle in the air. " _I. Don't. Dance._ "

"Come on, there will be dancing at the Gala." Amy whines.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to go. I don't dance. I'm out. I don't care about this award. I'm not fit for the whole girly puff-puff thing." Hina walks out, leaving Amy sad and Sonic a bit disappointed.

It was finally time for the gala, everyone was already inside, Sticks was with Tails, and Amy was looking around. "I guess Hina was really serious about not wanting to come." Amy was wearing a maroon long dress with matching heels. Sonic who was wearing a fancy red blazer game up and put a hand on Amy's shoulder, turning away.

" _Introducing the Lady Hina._ " Sonic and Amy's eyes widen as they turn, Hina was there, wearing an elegant red no-sleeved dress that reached to her knees, gold colored high heels, her normal short hair was now in a messy bun. She slowly walked down the stairs. "H-Hina?" Sonic said as she came closer, his face flushed red.

"In the flesh. I came to support Sticks."

"But, you're-your dress-" Amy stuttered. "Yeah, took me a while but I finally found some cheap fabric to make this dress."

Sticks rushed up and hugged Hina from behind. Sticks was wearing an elegant black and white long dress. "Hina, come on, I got to show you the food they have here!"

Hina laughed as she was dragged by Sticks, she waves to the pair. Amy smirked at Sonic. "Someone has a crush-"

"And I'm gonna stop you right there."

Sticks and Hina sit together at a table, they're all looking at the different silverware. " _Oh boy,_ " Hina says nervously.

Sticks picks up a fork. "What is this?"

"A...Fork?" Hina answered for her, A thumping noise was heard. "Excuse me, pardon me. Pardon me, excuse me. Evil genius coming through." Eggman sits down next to Sticks.

"Eggman? How did you--"

"Get nominated? Let's just say, I had a loyal base of... supporters."

"Uh...huh..." Hina said sarcastically. Eggman looks at Sticks suspiciously. "You look familiar. Do I know you?"

In a quick frame of mind, Sticks blurts out; "You have... healthy hindquarters!" Hina and Sonic look away to snicker while Amy face-palms. "Why, thank you. I actually just started taking spin classes."

Sticks picks up her bowl of soup and starts slurping from it. Amy facepalms again. Sticks extends her pinky while slurping. Hina shakes her head and grabs a spoon, but stops once the mayor walks on stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're ready to announce this year's winner!"

Hina and Sticks hold hands while biting their lips, praying for Sticks. "And the Awardy goes to... Leroy the Turtle!"

"... _ **What?!**_ " Hina, Sticks, and Eggman exclaim.

"Leroy the Turtle?! That award was mine! Something smells fishy here." Eggman growls. "If you won't give me the award, I'll take it!"

Ballot Stuffer Bot suddenly appears under Eggman and lifts him onto the table. Hina stands up and backs away. "With my ballot stuffing robot! Stuffer Bot, stuff their ballots!"

Eggman activates Ballot Stuffer Bot, who fires a harmless spray of paper everywhere.

"...This is not quite as menacing as I hoped. Minions, attack!"

A swarm of Bee-Bots flies in. Everyone except Team Sonic flees. Sonic takes out one of the Bee-Bots with a spin attack.

"Sticks, get 'em!" Sonic yells.

"A lady doesn't fight." Sticks resists. Eggman traps Sonic and Amy in an energy bubble using his wrist controller. He then does the same to Knuckles and Tails.

"Sticks, we could really use some help here!" Tails growls. "No! Must... remain... ladylike!"

Hina grabs a silver tray, jumps up and bangs it on the stuffer bots head, it does little damage. Once she lands, she breaks a heel and trips and falls into the buffet, getting food all over her dress. Team Sonic gasp. " _ **That's it!**_ " Sticks growls, getting angry after seeing her friend hurt.

"I'm sick of being proper!" Sticks pulls off her dress, revealing her old clothes. " _Time to get primal!_ "

Sticks charges, dodging more lasers. She grabs a spoon, bends it into a boomerang, and flings it at Eggman. Eggman dodges it, but it comes back around and hits his wrist controller, freeing Tails and Knuckles. Knuckles leaps up to aid Sticks. Eggman aims a laser at him, but the two nobles from before tackle Knuckles out of the way. "Heh heh... Give us a pound, dear chap."

Knuckles and Admiral Beaverton fistbump. Sticks charges Eggman, leaping up and pushing his wrist controller again, which frees Sonic and Amy. Sonic lands first and catches Amy, setting her down gently. Sonic then approaches Ballot Stuffer Bot. It fires lasers at him, but he dodges them, and soon runs circles around it, sending it and Eggman into a wild spin. "Eat garbage!" Sticks yells as she throws a vase at the bot.

"I'll be back! And next time, I'll bring more ballots! _**More ballots!**_ " Eggman leaves with the Bee-Bots in tow. The order is soon restored. "Leroy, you may have won the Awardy, but I think we can all agree that today, I was the real hero."

"Yes. But I won the award."

" _ **Give me the shiny!**_ " Sticks and Leroy fight over the award, Sonic and Tails helps Hina up, who is covered in fancy foods and desserts. "You okay, Hina?" Sonic asks worriedly.

"Other than a slightly broken shoe, ruined dress and possibly one of the most embarrassing moments of my life since high school, I'm fine." She joked. Amy and Sticks walk over to Hina, who smiles at Sticks. "Thanks for saving our skin, Sticks."

"Just following the old instincts."

"Think you can teach me how to do that?" Amy questioned. "Sure!" Sticks grabs Amy and pulls her into a dumpster. Amy screams and the rest of the team laughs.


	6. Fortress of Squalitude

Eggman is checking out his mail while using Cubot as a junkmail shredder. "Junk ... junk ... junk ... junk ... evil boot warehouse..."

Cubot stopped shredding as he coughed. Orbot hits Cubot's back a few times. "Paper jam."

"Orbot!" Eggman yelled. Orbot opened his mouth, ready to shred.

"No, you imbecile! I don't want you to shred this. It's the key to our future! Do you know what this is?"

"Robotic women, who love us for our minds and aren't into looks or money?" Orbot asks excitedly.

"No. Our home, and by that I mean my home, is going to be featured in Modern Lair magazine." He hands Orbot a paper. "Here, read the exposition."

" _A photographer's assistant will do a site inspection tomorrow to consider you for our Island Fortress issue._ " Eggman jumps up from his couch. "Let's give this lair some flair!"

Eggman walks in while the Bots are cleaning. "When you bots are done with my boots, make sure my roller coaster is in tip-top shape." Orbot and Cubot look at each other, then back to Eggman and nod. Eggman slightly adjusts a burner, only to adjust it again. "Perfect! It's all coming together! When the photographer's assistant arrives, he'll take one look at my lair and exclaim-"

"You call _this_ a lair?" The photographer, named Gunter, glares, Eggman glares back. "How dare you?! Listen, pompous little pipsqueak, I'll crush you like a bug!"

"Not if you want your lair in our magazine."

"You can't do this to me!"

"Modern Lair brings our readers a contemporary upbeat take on evil. Your idea of evil is totally retro; without the irony. Your lasers are a ridiculous shade of blue, and would you please turn that Bunsen burner 90 degrees before I get sick." He points to the burner Eggman was toying with earlier.

"Give me a chance! I'll spruce up the place!" Eggman begs. Gunter thinks for a minute. "I'll give you a week." He says as he walks away.

"I'm gonna need help, from someone with a real feel for color... and shape. Definitely gonna have to out-source this one... I know!"

Meanwhile, team Sonic is outside at Sonic's house. Amy was toying around with the decor, checking stuff off on a clipboard. "My summer-themed seat cushions with floral upholstery that compliments each guests' natural coloring is ready, the ice sculpture has melted just enough to hide the carving marks-"

"And I dug a trench around the picnic table and filled it with broken glass." Sticks smiled.

"... I might've used rose petals, but we'll go with it. Sonic and Hina! How are you doing on those fruit drinks?" She turns to see the pair asleep on beach chairs while the fruit was on a rock.

"Why am I not surprised? Tails! Where's the soothing music?!"

"Right here, but I thought it would be better if I gave it a little boost." Tails smiled as he pressed a button, loud music comes out of the speakers, blowing a large leaf onto Amy as Tails quickly turns the music off.

"Knuckles? Are my grilled pheasants ready?"

"Not now, Amy, I'm busy." He was busy playing with the pheasants. Amy growls. "Sticks, I don't know why I go out of my way to make things nice for these guys."

"You deserve better. I mean, this table! It should be hanging in a _museum_!" Eggman said, standing on the poach. This made Sticks jump onto the table, grab an oyster shell and smacks it on the ground, holding the broken ends like a weapon. "That villain, just give me the signal, Amy, and I'll clam him!"

Sonic, Hina, Tails, and Knuckles form behind her, glaring.

"Don't let the fact that I constantly try to destroy you lead you to believe that I am here to destroy you. I just want to hire Amy to redo my lair." The group starts to laugh, except for Amy who looks flattered.

"Come on, Amy, you're not buying this." Hina leans up against her bat, gesturing to Eggman. Amy turns around, looking annoyed. "Is it so hard to believe Eggman might _actually_ respect my talents?"

"Well, _Yeah_." Sonic realized what he just said. "Wait, that came out wrong."

Amy looks at the group for a second but then turns to Eggman. "I accept."

Everyone's faces fell. " _ **What?!**_ " Hina yelled.

"Don't go with Eggbreath!" Sonic said.

"You can't trust him! He's _evil!_ " Tails agreed. Amy walks over to him. "I can take care of myself."

"Splendid! My lair awaits, after you." He gestured for Amy. They both start to walk away.

"So, where do you wanna start?" Amy asks as she looks around the lair.

"You have total creative freedom. Make this lair so fantastic that they'll want to put it on the cover! Then I'll say no." Eggman laughs evilly. Amy looked confused. "Why?"

"Sorry, old habits are hard to break."

Amy started to redecorate, with Eggman moving some stuff here and there. Once they were finished, and the photographer came in, Eggman smiled. "Hello! What a surprise!"

He is disappointed when Gunther walks past him. The three are looking at the laser light show complete with Orbot and Cubot spinning in the air. Gunther looks confused. They are then shown in the room with all the plaid, and Gunther notices the picture with the unicorns. Eggman leans in and whispers to Amy. "He hates it. I knew those unicorns were too much!"

He stops whispering and walks up to Gunther. "I can explain! The one to blame-"

"I love it."

Eggman side steps in front of Amy. "Is me! Yes, I really outdid myself, didn't I?"

This made Amy furious. " _ **What?!**_ It was _my_ design!"

"Under _my_ supervision."

"And _my_ execution!"

"With _my_ direction!"

"I just have one note. Danger up the entryway a little, and who knows? You might make the cover. I'll be back tomorrow with the photographer." He smiled and walks away. Eggman gets excited. "Did you hear that? _The cover_!"

"Great. Have fun " _supervising_ " yourself! I'm out of here!" Amy starts to walk away, but Eggman presses a button on a remote, causing a cage to surround Amy, locking her in. She looks at him. "Really?"

"What did you expect? I'm a supervillain! Now, once you're finished dangering up the entryway to my lab, you might want to put in an evil screening room."

Amy looks down, a bit hurt.

"Cheer up! At least I appreciate you, unlike your so-called " _friends_ "."

Speaking of which, it was now night and the rest of the team are sitting at the table, the food burnt. "Ugh. Burned food just doesn't taste the same without Amy."

"Knuckles, you're eating a _napkin_." Tails points out. Knuckles looks at the napkin. "Yeah, I knew that." He takes another bite off it. Making Hina retaliate in disgust.

"Knuckles is right," Sonic said. Making Tails and Hina look at him. " _ **What?!**_ "

"Not about the napkin eating, about Amy! We need to make sure she's OK."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Hina smiled as she pulled out her weapon.

Sonic knocks on the door and waits for somebody to answer. He is about to knock again when Eggman appears. "Yes?"

"We came to get Amy. Is she done yet?" Sonic asks.

"Amy has decided to become my full-time decorator. I'm afraid she doesn't want anything to do with her old friends." The door shuts again. Tails kicks up some dust. "Well, that's just a bunch of rubbish."

"Wow. Who'd thought Amy'd abandon us?" Knuckles asks.

"I don't think she did. Come on, we got to find a way into this lair."

"I know a way!" Sticks smirks.

Inside, Amy sighed as her face was flushed pink, and some tear streaks remained on her face. She sniffed and retaliated. "Ew, what is that smell?"

The wall is destroyed, showing Sticks, Knuckles, Tails, Hina, and Sonic, who are dirty. "It's us! We snuck in through a sewer pipe!" Knuckles said proudly.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you guys to miss me," Amy said cockily. Sonic walked up and saw Amy's face up close, which made Amy look away. Sonic cleared his throat. "We may have a hard time saying it, Amy, but... well, _you know_."

Amy sighed, facing Sonic. "Yeah, _I know_." Tails runs over and deactivates the cage, freeing Amy. Sonic holds his hand out to Amy, who gladly takes it and helps her step out of the cage. "There's no way we're going out the way we came in, care to do the honors?" He asks.

Amy nods as he hands her hammer to her. She walks to the door and smashes it down, scaring Eggman. "Sorry about the door. Oh, and I quit."

"No one quits my employ unless I dismantle them first!" He summons his bots and Sonic winked at Amy. "After you."

The team charges. Amy destroys a Motobug with her hammer. Knuckles throws a robot attacking Tails into a wall. A Bee-Bot fires at Sonic, but he is too fast and spin attacks a Motobug, letting Amy finish it off with her hammer.

Sticks destroys a Bee-Bot with her boomerang. Sonic does a dramatic landing as a Crab Bot sneaks up behind him, but Tails is quick and uses the unicorn painting on the wall to smash the robot. The brother's fist bump each other. Hina runs to a Bee bot, hitting it with her bat, making it fly out a window.

Eggman attempts to flee but is stopped when the photographer Diane Aardvark and Gunther arrive. "I.. umm... you're early!"

" _Apparently_." The photographer turns to Gunther. "You're fired." And she starts to walk away, Eggman chases her.

"W-wait, please! Forget the cover! How about a smaller spread? A couple pages? A page! A snapshot buried behind some cleaning product adds!"

"Would've been nice to see my designs featured in a magazine. Oh well, maybe someday." Amy sadly smiled. Sonic put a hand on her shoulder. "I can't guarantee you a magazine spread, but I do know a shack you can redecorate."

"Really? I've been wanting to fix that place up for years! Oh, Sonic, it'll be _amazing!_ "

"Just a few things: My coconut husk collection is off-limits -too many memories..." He glances at Tails. "And no washing, painting, plastering, or cleaning. But other than that you have _total_ creative freedom."

Amy just rolls her eyes at Sonic with a smirk. And the group walks away.


	7. Double Doomsday

It was a beautiful summer day, Sonic and Hina are waiting in line at the cashier's counter in meh burger. "Man, I am starving! Next exit: Munchytown. Population: us." Sonic smiled as Hina nodded her head in agreement.

Just as the pair walks up to the cashier, Dr. Eggman cuts right in front of them immediately.

"Hey, no cutsies! I was here first!"

"No way, Egghead! We've been waiting!"

"Um, I believe the barrel-chested gentleman with the luxuriant mustache was first." Dave the intern says as Sonic was furious. " _ **What?**_ Are you serious?"

"Let's just go Sonic." Hina tugs his arm as she rolls her eyes. Eggman laughs. "That's how we do it! Score one for Eggman." He starts dancing in victory as the pair look at him unimpressed. "Just gotta flash the 'stache."

Later, Sonic and Hina are waiting for their food, glaring at Eggman who already has his food. "Mmm, now that's good! How's yours over there? Oh, right. _Yours_ isn't ready yet. Should have been faster, Sonic!" Eggman laughs evilly.

"What a jerk..." Hina mutters. Dave carries a tray to their table. "Okay, here we are. Two double Meh Burgers with _extra_ pickles."

"I said _no_ pickles." Sonic says. This made Eggman laugh. "Oh, this is just the best day ever!" He continues eating the burger and then interrupted by Dave. "I'm Dave, big fan of yours, sir. I've study all of your attacks, the Bee Bot gambit, the lair gambit, the gambit gambit."

"Aw yes, that one was doubly risky. I like the cut of your jib. How'd you like to be my unpaid intern?"

"It'd be an honour to work for you without pay."

"Did I mention I like you jib-cut-wise?" Eggman added. With that, he took him to his lair.

"Wow! I'm really here! Where do I start?"

"Even though you're only an intern, there's an important job that I can't trust Orbot and Cubot to do." He hands Dave a mop. "Mop the bathroom."

" _Mop the bathroom_!? Wow! Back at Meh Burger I'd have to be a manager to do that." Dave says happily as he runs off. "You two could learn a thing or two from this kid." Eggman told Orbot and Cubot.

The two bots spy on Dave all day. "This new intern worries my circuit, I fear that his enthusiasm for the most menial tasks causes us to appear inferior by comparison." Orbot sighs.

"Yeah, he's making us look bad too. He does more sucking up than my cousin, Suzanne, and she's a vacuum." Cubot agreed as they "walk" away. Not knowing that Dave is secretly listening to Orbot and Cubot's complaints.

Meanwhile, Orbot is looking for Cubot in the dark. "Cubot are you there?" He turns on his flashlights. "My word..."

A local trapdoor is dripping oil on the outside with a rope attached. Orbot pulls on the rope and the trapdoor opens as pieces fall out. Orbot screams. It was shown to be Cubot. He screams again.

Eggman was enjoying his relaxation while his intern was busy scrubbing. "I could build a robot to do this but there's just something about unpaid labor that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside."

Dave comes upon Eggman's old Doomsday Device while cleaning. "What's this?"

"Oh, yes my old Doomsday Device."

"It's magnificent. I bet it could destroy a _hundred_ worlds."

"Well, maybe not a hundred, but if I connected that power supply... a one definitely!" Eggman smirks as Orbot carries a mangled Cubot. "Dr. Eggman sir, it's Cubot he's been disassembled."

"I don't have time for you two, can't you see I'm enjoying quality time with my protege? So, where were we? Ah yes, you were praising me. You were leaving." He glared at the red bot, who left with a depressed look on his face.

Meanwhile at Tails' workshop, he had his older brother over to look at a new invention. "Here it is, the Reverse Polarizer, it takes any force and reverses it."

Tails flushes the toilet, he then uses the Reverse Polarizer. The water comes back up, falling back down and into the toilet. Sonic chuckled. "Guess we won't be needing this anymore." He throws a plunger behind his back. A knock is heard, Sonic and Tails rush to the door to see the plunger stuck to Orbots head.

"Hello. Odd request. Could I trouble you to reassemble my dismantled cohort?" He gestured beside him, showing a dismantled Cubot laying on the floor.

Back at the lair, Dave is vacuuming the floor while Eggman walks up to him. "Great Job, next thing I need you to do is clean up the robo-litter box."

"Uh, actually Dr. Eggman, now, that you consider me your protege. I was kind of hoping to get a little more evil experience like, concut a scheme together maybe I could pitch some ideas?"

"Listen Dave, your a terrible kid and thats great, but you have to start at the bottom of the evil ladder and work your way up." Eggman reasoned as he put a hand on his shoulder. "But I've spent a year and a half in the fast-food industry."

"Let's give it a few more weeks, eh?"

" _A few more weeks_? _**A few more weeks**_?! I can't sit around indefinitely?! What do you think I am?! A Meh Burger?!" He runs off, enraged, Eggman was right behind him, He goes into Eggman's lab and closes the door.

"You come out this instant!" Eggman hollers.

"No! I'll show you! I'm gonna be an evil genius, no matter what you say!" Dave yells through the door, noises could be heard from the other side. "David, what is going on in there?"

"Nothing!"

"You stop that right now, young man. That is my Doomsday Device."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have locked the power supply in here then, and maybe I shouldn't put the power supply in my pants!"

"Your not wearing any pants!"

"Then what are these pockets?" Drilling sounds can be heard, along with screech from a cat, a scream, a cow, and electric shocks. "That better not be what I think it is."

"Depends on whether you think it's a Doomsday Device that's I just activated!"

"Actually, I thought it was my panini press. But this is worse!" Eggman walks away, distraught.

At Tails' workshop, he just finished fixing Cubot, he turns him on, smiling.

"Watch what your grabbing there bozo."

"Huzzah! He's fixed! Cubot tell us what happened to you." Orbot asks.

"It's Dave! He dismantled me! And I liked being mantled." Cubot says panicked.

" _What_?!" Sonic and Tails question. Tails' laptop beeps repeatedly. He walks to the laptop and opens it. There is a map of Eggman's Lair with two red dots on the screen. "Whoa, I'm reading two weird energy signatures from Eggman's Lair."

"What are they?"

"Judging from how powerful and unstable they are, I'd say they could only be some kind of Doomsday Device. _Two_ of them."

" _ **What?!**_ " Sonic's eye's widen. He quickly grabbed Tails and sped off to the tornado.

Meanwhile at Eggman's lair, he was yelling at Dave, boasting about his Doomsday Device. Sonic bursts through the wall, glaring at the man. "Game over, Eggman! Shut off the Doomsday Devices!"

" _Shut off_?! Who put an off switch on the Doomsday device?" Eggman laughs. Sonic scratches his head. "Hmm...You make a valid point." Sonic presses his wrist communicator.

"Bad news. There's no off switch." He told Tails, who just silently chuckled to himself at Sonic. "Well, yeah. Who puts an off switch on the Doomsday Device?"

"Ha. _Very Funny_. So what now?"

"Well uh..." Tails looks at the screen on the tornado and sighs. "This is a long shot, but it's our only chance. If we increase the energy output of both devices, and get them vibrating at opposite frequencies, then there's a small chance they'll cancel each other out."

"Yeah just for a second pretend I'm not a science guy, bud."

"Oh, right. Sorry. Get Eggman to increase his devices power. I'll do the same with Dave."

"Got it." They both hang up while Tails flies to Dave's window, who opens it. "I'm sorry we're closed. Oh wait. This isn't the drive-through. What do you want?!"

Tails jumps out and walks onto the plane's wing and stands on the window's ledge.

"I'm here to help." He smiles.

"I don't need your help." Dave shoots back.

"I guess not. If you're OK with Eggman destroying the world bigger than you, and let's be honest here, you will want some help with a guy who has an IQ of 300."

"No way! Write up the next one and come in." He shuts the window as Tails rolls his eyes and does so.

In the next room, a timer is counting down, and Eggman is watching while wearing a party hat and holding a party blower in his mouth. Which he blows when Sonic rushes in with his two bots.

"Dave supercharged this machine with thousand volt batteries!" Sonic said worriedly.

"506 batteries huh? I'll show him!" Eggman clenched his fists and walks to a door, he opens the hatch. The two help the pair make their Doomsday Devices equal. When the time comes to start it, Tails' tails shake and twist with nervousness as he talked into his wrist communicator.

"Hope this works."

"I have no doubt that it will, lil' bro." Sonic reassured. The timer on his device counts to zero. The camera shows a double screen and a beeping sound is heard. The two devices spin rapidly and release an orb that rises up to the sky and breaks a hole through the ceilings. The orbs emit waves that erase a kite and three Fly Bots. Eggman and Sonic look up through the holes to the sky and notice the two waves converge into one before disappearing into an aura.

" _What the what?!_ " Dave exclaimed.

"Hey. Sweet! We did it!" Tails cheered. Suddenly, the aura turns into a black hole. Sonic's face paled. " _What the what?!_ "

"Ah... That's more like it!" Eggman smiles. A noise from the black hole is heard. Sonic and Tails immediately run outside the lair and look up to the black hole in the sky. They are getting blown towards it. "There must've been some small power discrepancy."

Sonic pulls out a small battery. "Yeah, my bad." Sonic chucks it. He points at the hole. "The important thing is how are we going to reverse it?!"

A lightbulb went off in Tails' head. "That's it! My Reverse Polarizer! I can get up in there and reverse it!"

"No way, let _me_ do it. I'm faster."

"But I can-"

"Just tell _me_ how to do it, Tails." Sonic said sternly. Tails' sighs. "If you can get close enough, you can reverse the gravitational pull and force it to close in on itself."

" _But..._ "

"But if you're too slow... You'll be pulled into the black hole forever and all existence will be erased."

"See?" Sonic smirks as grabs the device and nudges Tails' shoulder, winking. "Told ya I'm better."

Sonic runs up to the top of the lair and looks up to the Black Hole. He jumps on the debris getting sucked up by the hole and gets lured in. He activates the switch in the Reverse Polarizer but suddenly it slips out of his hands. A couple of debris hits his face while he falls. The device reacts to the black hole and explodes emitting a bright light, making Tails flinch.

Tails recovers but suddenly sees Sonic falling through the lair's platform. He looks down at Sonic, who is seen with his eyes shut. He wiggles his face and opens his eyes. He sighs.

"Glad you made it." Tails smirked. Sonic smiled back as he got pulled out of the hole, he wobbled since he was a bit tired, so Tails helped him stand and gave him a smile back. Eggman was currently with Dave.

"You little twerp. Your interning days are through. _**You're fired!**_ "

"Well you are going to give me a positive evaluation, right?"

" _ **Get ouuuut!**_ " Dave runs out of the lair in fear. Eggman turns to Orbot and Cubot. "And you two! I have an assignment for you."

"We're back baby!" Cubot says happily. "Mop the bathroom." Eggman hands them a mop. Orbot and Cubot drop themselves in sadness and disappointment.


	8. Eggheads

There is a thunderstorm occurring and Eggman is seen working on something. He laughs.

"Yes, my minons... This may very well be my greatest creation yet!" Orbot and Cubot are hugging each other in fear and Eggman plucks a hair from his mustache. He then puts it in a oven-like device and the machine is seen transmitting his DNA into something. "Yes! Yes! Rise my creation! _**RISE!**_ "

The machine continues to function while the nozzles fly off and fill the room with smoke. Suddenly, a " _ding_ " sound is heard and the light comes on. Eggman presents a tray of six cookies to Orbot and Cubot.

"All that for cookies?" Orbot asks.

" _Evil_ Cookies!"

"Sweet! I'll go get the evil milk!" Cubot yells as he goes to do so.

Meanwhile at Sonic's Shack, a robotic arm is seen putting a basket of the evil cookies and the evil milk near Sonic's doorstep. "Wow! Cookies!" Sonic picks one up.

"Hope this turns out better than the last time someone left baked goods on my doorstep..." Sonic prepares to eat his cookie until he gets a message.

" _Hey, Sonic, are you there? I need a little help._ "

"Is it urgent, Bud? I'm sort of in the middle of something." He asks Tails. Who is trying to avoid being attacked by his rampaging vacuum bot. " _Umm, yeah?_ "

"Okay. I'm on my way, lil bro." Sonic drops the cookie and runs off. Eggman watches him and recoils. "Come back and eat that cookie, you mutant blue rat!"

He suddenly notices Knuckles on the monitor near the evil cookies.

"No, no, no!" Eggman wails.

"Don't mind if I do!" Knuckles smiled. He throwsthe cookie into the air and eats it. He then tries to drink the milk but nothing comes out. Suddenly, milk pours onto his face and he falls down and an orange light is shown.

Meanwhile Sonic and Tails are at Tails' workshop, fighting his vacuum cleaners with chairs. "Back! Back I say!"

Amy and Hina smile as they approach the basket. "Aw... I knew Sonic wouldn't forget my birthday!" She gives Hina a cookie as Amy grabs one herself.

"Amy, you're Birthday was _four months_ ago." Hina questioned as she smiled. Amy shrugged. "But it's the thought that counts!"

" _ **Gah!**_ Why would he leave _your_ birthday present on _his_ porch?! Where's the logic there?" Eggman asks as the ladies eat the cookies. They both fall backwards as two bright lights were shown.

Tails is running from the vacuum bot but it manages to catch him. Tails screams.

"Ow! Tail! Pain! Ouch!" Tails wails.

Sonic pulls Tails free but they both go crashing into the wall. "You okay?" Sonic asks as they move away from each other, Sonic looks at his tails. "I'm fine...I think?"

Eggman slammed his hand on his desk. " _ **That's it!**_ The last two cookies are for Sonic, and nobody else!"

Sticks can be seen taking one of the cookies, though, she tried to stay hidden from the camera. "Oh, come on!"

Finally, Sonic manages to tie up the vacuum bot by the nozzle and make it explode causing dust to spray everywhere. "Look at this mess! I just vacuumed!" Tails and Sonic shake off the dust.

"Are you going to clean this up?"

"Eh, I'll clean it up later." Tails sighs as he kicks his vacuum. Sonic nudges his head to the side. "Come on, I'll fix up your tails."

"So, yeah. A feather duster might be the better way to go." Sonic jokes as he bumps into the basket. "Oh, hey. I forgot about these. What the heck? There's only one left!"

"Yes. Eat it! Eat the cookie!" Eggman smiles.

"Sonic, wait! Don't eat that cookie!" Tails pleads. "Why?"

"Well, mint chocolate chunk is my favorite..." Tails gave Sonic puppy dog eyes while wagging his tails. Sonic sighed and rubbed his brother's head and gave him the cookie. "I'll just go inside and make a sandwich or something, now come on." Sonic looked behind him before walking inside.

Tails eats it, and falls down, laughing evilly.

" _You'll never get away with this Eggman!_ "

" _Sonic will see you coming from a mile away!_ " Everyone was at Eggman's lair with mustaches on their faces. They have been turned Evil.

"Yeah! If we wanna _trap_ Sonic, we got to _think_ like Sonic!" Sticks growled.

"This is even better than I hoped! Five evil genius masterminds!" Eggman cheered. "Actually, I'm an evil mastermind of average intelligence." Knuckles reminded.

"Five evil genius masterminds give or take! Working together under my leadership, we'll be unstoppable!"

"Here's the plan! We wait at the beach shack for Sonic, and then bombard it with an all-out robot assault from five different sides!" Amy moved the figures around.

"No! What we should do is tunnel underneath to bypass his defenses!" Hina held a figure in her hand.

"We should attack from above by plane!" Tails yelled. "We have to get rid of his stupid friends first!" Knuckles yelled back. They started to argue, until Eggman put a stop to it.

"Calm down! Even though you're evil geniuses now, for the most part, you lack experience. Time for a crash course in villainy!" He laughs maniacally.

Sonic was busy watching TV, but when he heard something outside he rushed towards it, thinking it was Tails, he was wrong. It was Orbot and Cubot. "Hello..."

Meanwhile, Eggman was still teaching how to be villainous. "So far so good! Now the written exam. The topic is: How to Capture Sonic. You may begin!"

They start to do so, but stop when a loud crash was heard. They turn to see Sonic, really upset. "Pencils down, eggheads!"

"Clones, change of plans! Your written exam is now a practical! _**ATTACK!!!**_ " Eggman yells. Hina growls and swings her bat at Sonic, who blocks it, he grabs it and brings her face close to his. "What are you doing? You are my _friend_!"

"Not anymore." She growled. Amy, Sticks, and Knuckles came and tried to attack him, he growled and turned, when he saw Tails in his own little egg-mobile, he knew, he was trapped.

"Wonderful work, everyone! Finally! After all my years of trying, I've captured Sonic the Hedgehog!" Eggman cheered.

"What do you mean _you_ captured Sonic? This is clearly the result of _my_ leadership!" Amy argues.

" _You_ were losing until _I_ deployed the robots!" Tails growls.

"With all of you arguing, I can't hear da voices in my head!" Sticks yells.

"I can't believe I have to work with such _idiots!_ " Hina glared at all of them.

"I'm an evil mastermind of average intelligence!" Knuckles shouted. Suddenly, the evil clones of Eggman start to attack each other. Eggman ducks for safety until Sonic takes him behind a chalkboard. "This didn't work out as you planned, huh, Eggface?"

"Why won't those other "me's" listen to me? I only want what's best for me!"

"Hmm, I think I know how to fix this." Sonic looked at Eggman's DNA machine. "Do you? Boy, that will be great. 'Cause I ... I got so much going on, and I ... My plate is full, you know. I've got ... I've looked at the calendar, and ..."

Eggman continues talking while Sonic runs off toward the machine. He takes down some robots in the way. Sonic then plucks a hair from beside his ear and places it in the machine. The cookie is made and it flies toward Eggman who is still talking.

"So, yeah. If you can help me out with that, that will be-" The cookie flies into Eggman's mouth and Sonic runs beside Eggman. Eggman is now transformed into a blue version of himself and a clone of Sonic.

"Let's crack these eggheads!" Eggman yelled. Eggman and Sonic spin attack into some Badniks destroying them. Eggman dodges an attack from Knuckles. "I can get used to this!"

Sonic manages to fend off Amy and Stickles while Eggman is avoiding an attack from Tails and Aqua. "Hold them off, Eggman! I'll be right back!" Sonic speeds off.

Sonic runs into Amy's house and pulls off one of her hairs from a brush, He then heads into Tails' house and grabs one of Tails' headphones, Then runs to the beach where he finds Knuckles' headband on his bench, He then heads to Sticks's burrow to find a strange doll, finally, he went to Hina's house to find her hair on her pillow. He runs back to the lair. "Let's get baking!"

Eggman cooks up the cookies that are color coded and he flings them into the air. Sonic then knocks the cookies into the mouths of Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Sticks, turning them back to normal. "I feel like myself again!"

"Ughhh, I _never_ want to feel like that again." Hina held her head.

"Yeah and the best part is: now we're all on the same team! We'll fight side by side, together." Eggman cheered. The unsatisfied members of Team Sonic look at each other and Sticks tosses the last evil cookie. "One for all and all for-" he eats the cookie and glares. "Okay, fun's over! I gotta get back to work! Evil doesn't brilliantly plan and execute itself, you know!" He growls and walks away.


	9. Guilt Tripping

In a beautiful summer day in the jungle, Sonic and Tails are racing on Tails' hoverboards. He smirks at the blue hedgehog. "You may be faster on foot, but I invented these things!"

Tails does a flip and overtakes Sonic. Who smirks back. "Not bad! My turn!"

He overtakes Tails, smirks at him but then he hits a branch and two trees before falling down to the ground. Tails approaches him on his hoverboard as Sonic recovers from the fall. "Are you okay?!" Tails asked, eyes widened. "Fine, just fine."

"Good, cause that was the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Tails smiled in amazement. Sonic gave him a look. " _Really?_ "

"You look cool even when you're making a complete fool of yourself!" Tails nods, they both share a chuckle before Sonic finds his hoverboard and is about to pick it up when he hears the Weasel Bandits. "All right, load 'em up! Hurry up and nobody gets hurt!"

The brothers watch as the Gogobas drop valuables into the Weasel Bandits' bags.

"Whoa! We gotta stop those jerks!" Tails nods as they rush in, Tails on his hover board. "What's going on here?" Sonic asks.

"Oh, these delightful young men were just ransacking our poor village and taking all our possessions." The chief reply's, almost sadly.

"They probably need them more than we do, being bandits living on the land and all." Another one mentions, with the same sad tone.

"Yeah, so back off, blue guy! This is what we do!" The bandit laughs. Sonic scoffs. "Oh yeah, well this is what _we_ do!"

Sonic Spin Dashes into the Weasel Bandits, leaving them stunned, then Tails passes Sonic a nearby vine attached to a tree and Sonic ties them up with it as Tails pulls on the vine.

"Ugh! This isn't over!" One of the bandit glared at Sonic. He smirks back. "Really? Cause it looks like you're about to ' _take off_ '."

And on cue, Tails releases his grip on the vine and the Weasel Bandits are catapulted into the sky. Tails and Sonic fist bump each other, smiling. The chief walks up to them. "Thank you, strange travellers, you have saved us Gogobas from the from the scourage of the Weasel Bandits, and scattered our belongings carelessly across the dirt."

Tails looked sorry as he started to pick them up. "Sorry, I'll help pick 'em up."

"no, we wouldn't want to trouble you. I'll do it myself. It probably won't cause my chronic back pain to flare up too much. Oh!" While bending down, the female's back makes a horrifying cracking sound. The brothers exchanged awkward looks.

"Oh don't worry about her, she'll pass out from the pain soon. In the meantime, the rest of us will throw our valiant heroes a victory feast." The chief nodded.

Two Gogobas bring a table full of food to Sonic and Tails, filled with a variety type of fruits, some water, and roasted chicken. Sonic's mouth watered, but quickly denied it. "Thanks, but we really gotta-"

"It's okay, we know how busy you are. Within a few months, this will turn into compost, and we'll be able to grow new food to eat." The chief interrupts. Sonic sighs.

"Um, well I guess we could stay for a quick bite." Sonic agreed.

"Wonderful!"

The Gogoba Chief walks off, two Gogobas give Sonic and Tails chairs and they both sit down. They both look at each other before they start eating some fruit. They then find out that the Gogoba Chief and all the Gogobas are watching them. Sonic raises an eyebrow. "Um, aren't you guys gonna eat?"

"Oh, no. We'd much rather watch you enjoy your food." The chief replies meekly.

"That's the only nourishment we need." Her stomach growls. "That was a growl of joy."

"Sonic, these Gogobas are so nice, but I feel kinda weird staying here." Tails replies honestly. Sonic nods. "Yeah I know lil bro, I feel terrible."

"Let's speed?" Tails asked, Sonic nods and they both got up.

"That was really... delicious, we loved it, loved, loved, loved it, but we... should probably get going." Sonic mentions.

The three Gogobas looked at Sonic sadly as Sonic waves them goodbye. Then Sonic turns his head to see the Gogoba Chief right in front of him and backs away in surprise.

"Of course, of course! Why would you want to stay with us when we made you this incredible meal?" The chief responds sadly.

"No, we do wanna stay, it's just that--" Tails tries to tell them, but the chief, once again, interrupted. "Wonderful! Allow us to prepare your accommodations."

A few Gogobas prepare a big bed and throw Sonic and Tails onto it. They then proceed to fan the hedgehog and fox. They look at each other.

"Fetch our new friend the finest, softest blankets in the village!" The chief yelled. Two Gogobas lay a blanket in front of Sonic and Tails, and they both bow their heads a little to thank them.

"Maybe this won't be so bad!" Tails smiles.

"The children in the nursery can huddle together for warmth." The chief tells the people, making Sonic's ears fold down and he sighs in sadness, pulling the blanket over his head.

It is now night, a no one is to be seen. "Hey." He nudged Tails. "Lil bro, the Gogobas are finally gone! Let's sneak out of here." He whispers to him. He nods and the two get out of their bed silently and start to creep out of the village, but they Gogoba Chief interrupts them, scaring the poor life out of Sonic, making his quills puff up.

"Can we get you something?" The chief smiles.

"Uh... Wh-where did you come from? We thought everyone was asleep." Sonic asks, finally calming down. "How could we sleep when we got guests to take care of?"

"We really should be on our way." Tails says sadly.

"Go, go! We'll be fine." The chief nods.

"Until the next inevitable bandit attack." Another Gogoba reminds them. "It's okay, just promise someday you'll come back and visit." The chief adds.

"The smoking crater where our village used to be." Another Gogoba added. Sonic and Tails look at each other awkwardly before they start to leave the village.

" _Wait!_ I got heirloom tomatos and some really nice pastrami! I'll pack ya sandwiches!" The Gogoba called out, and they left to go do so. Sonic sighed. "Tails, these guys are nuts!"

"We gotta get out of here!"

"But how? We're stuck here as long as there is a threat from those bandits!" Sonic asks. Tails thinks for a minuet, then like a light bulb he jumped up flying. "I got it!"

"Whoa, Okay, calm down." Sonic guides him back down. "If we can create a defence system for the village, the Gogobas will be safe and we can leave!"

"Yeah, but what if I'm right and they're just nuts?" Sonic jokes, Tails laughs. "That's a chance I'm willing to take."

The next day, the two started building the system. Sonic tightens ropes, Tails activates a lazer, both of them cover the ropes with leaves and Sonic pulls bamboo cages up trees using ropes attached to them like a pulley. After completing the defence system, they show it to the Gogobas.

"Gogoba Village, allow us to present your new state of the art defence system!" Sonic smiled.

"You no long need us to protect you from invaders, and the best part is, it's totally fool-proof!" Tails added.

"Goodbye, friends!" They both wave, leaving the village.As they are walking, they hear a siren, ropes pulling and cages hitting the ground. They turn around to see what happened, and find out the Gogobas have activated the defence system and are caught in it.

" _Aw, come on!_ " Sonic growls.

"Seriously?" Tails rolls his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I wish I had a better excuse, but it's hard to concentrate while all the blood is rushing to my head!" The chief sighs.

"We'll just hang here until we go numb." Another one added.

"And our bodies will reflect our emotional state!" After letting them down, they start making up a new plan.

"We can totally fight Eggman or bandits, but... how do we fight guilt?" Tails asks. Sonic pats his back. "With... more guilt! Follow my lead!" He grabs his brothers arm and runs towards the chief.

"Hey, uh, Chief! It's been great and all, but unfortunately, we have to go now." Sonic says sadly.

"But we haven't finished stitching your friendship quilt!" The chief sadly replies. Sonic and Tails turn their head to see a Gogoba stitching a quilt with a rather badly drawn picture of Gogoba Chief and Gogobas holding hands with Sonic and Tails, dancing in a line, with the sun, some clouds, a few butterflies and flowers drawn around it. Gogoba Chief and Sonic then give serious looks at each other while a ball of dust pass between them.

"Alright." Sonic clears his throat. "Well, we could stay, but our plants back at home, without us there to water them, oh well, I suppose it's their own fault for being plants." He smirks.

"No, you have to go. Far being for us let the well being of the entire society, hold you back from, watering your precious house plants." The chief gives them both a look. Sonic skillfully taps Tails' shoulder with his finger, letting him know it's his turn without the chief noticing. Tails nodded slightly.

"No, your well being is much more important. I mean, if the plants need water so badly, they can walk to the kitchen and get it themselves." Tails lowered his ears and tails as he spoke, giving a kind smile back.

"Oh no, we've just met, but you've known your plants for a long time! Go to them! We'll be fine." The chief insists.

"But in all that time, the plants have never given us anything, except oxygen." Sonic smiles.

"And nutrition." Tails replies, the same look on his face as before. The Gogoba Chief squints his eyes. The two of the continue to squint their eyes further and further, and another ball of dust passes by. The Gogoba Chief eventually gives up. "All right, you win. We can't keep you here. You should go."

"Seriously?" Sonic asks.

"Yeah. Go. Leave us. Goodbye forever." The chief nods. Tails quits the act and smiles in victory. "Hey, thanks for everything, Chief!" Sonic says, shaking his hand. While walking away, Sonic rolls his eyes.

"Call to let us know you made it home, okay? Otherwise, we'll just sit here and worry." The chief says sadly.

"Nice work Tails, you completely sold it." Sonic compliments.

"I just followed your lead." He winks.

Back at Sonic's shack, they lean their hoverboards against the wall. Sonic was holding a burger. "I thought we'd never get out of there!" Tails laughs.

"Well, at least we're finally back _hoooome_..." Sonic and Tails look in shock as they see all the Gogobas in Sonic's shack.

"Welcome home!" The chief smiled. All the Gogobas who were using Sonic's things look up and see Sonic and Tails. Sonic drops his burger. "We had to let ourselves in, since you don't have a door."

"Or any cold beverages or snacks."

"But don't worry, we made do." The chief smiles. Sonic's eyes flashed a color of red for a split second as he stomped towards the leader. " _ **What?! Are you?! Doing here?!**_ "

"We'd figured that if we were here, you could keep protecting us and in exchange, we could water those house plants of yours. Where are those by the way?" The chief asks, looking around. Sonic attempts to attack Gogoba Chief but Tails stops him. Sonic lets out a grunt.

"And that's not all we've done for you." The chief smiles.

"We opened all your mail."

"And we uncanned all your food."

This made Sonic grunt in rage, again, his eyes flashed a red color.

"Next, we'll check all your messages." The chief picks up Sonic's communication device and presses a button. Sonic snatches it away from him. "Gimme that!"

His communication device beeps.

" _Sonic! It's Doctor Eggman! Just so you know, I'm planning to blow up the dam this Sunday. Hope to see you there! Not that you can stop me._ "

Sonic looks at it, confused. It beeped again.

" _Hey, I'm here at the dam. Just waiting on you now. Gonna blow it up any second now. Bet you don't wanna miss it._ "

He gave it a look with boredom. Another beep.

" _Oh! Sorry, wrong dial. Didn't mean to call you._ "

Sonic then put his hands on the table as it beeped one last time.

" _Alright! It was a trick! I was gonna ambush you, but you didn't even have the decency to show up! That's really rude, Sonic!_ "

"Wow, that guy can't take a hint!" The chief said. A whistle comes from outside of Sonic's Shack. Sonic runs towards the door to see Eggman and his Badniks in front of the shack.

"Well, well, look who it is? Mr. I-don't-have-time-to-show-up-to-Doctor-Eggman's-ambush!" Dr. Eggman glared.

"Ugh, this is a really bad time, Egghead."

"No problem, I'll come back later when you're ready." Eggman started to walk away, but then came back. "Just kidding! Robots, attack!"

Baniks begin to charge towards Sonic. Sonic destroys some Badniks while Tails barely manages to dodge Bee Bot fire because of two scared Gogobas holding him down, Tails finally manages to smash it.

Gogoba Chief walks into the battlefield as Sonic destroys more robots in the background. "Oh, pardon me. I didn't mean to get in the way of your great evil rampage."

Sonic notices Gogoba Chief in the battlefield. He jumps to destroy some Bee Bots, them pushes him out of the battlefield.

"Out of the way!" He growls.

Tails destroys a Crab Bot as Sonic carries Gogoba Chief to safety. "This isn't working! We can't keep fighting around these Gogobas!"

"Maybe we should fight over them!" Tails smiles and runs to Sonic's shack. "Sonic! Catch!" He picks up Sonic's Hoverboard and throws it to him. Sonic catches it with ease.

"That's what I'm talking about!"

Tails gets on his Hoverboard and flies into the sky with it. Six Bee Bots chase him, three in front and three behind. He suddenly does a backward flip, which catches the Bee Bots off guard and crash into each other. Sonic then gets on his Hoverboard and charges towards some Badniks The robots lift off but before they could do anything else, He bashes into them, destroying them. He turns to Tails.

"Remember the trick we practice, lil bro?" He asked Tails with a smirk. Tails nodded. They come together, hold each other's hand and moved quickly in a circle on their Hoverboards. Badniks try to approach them but they get destroyed.

"Ugh! You've got to be kidding me!" Eggman whined.

"I suppose it was our own fault, for getting in the way." The chief sighed sadly.

"Yeah, you know what, it _was_ your fault! I usually win at these things." Eggman growls at the chief. Sonic then had a lightbulb go off in his head. "Hey, are you trying to steal our new teammates?"

"New teammates?"

"Yeah, we couldn't have won this battle without the Gogobas." Tails smiled, playing along.

"And if they joined up with you, it'll be like you won this battle, you'd be unstoppable!" Sonic said in "shock".

"Yeah, I would've, wouldn't I?" Eggman pondered. The chief turns his head to look at Sonic. "We wish to stay with our protector, Sonic."

"Fine, let poor Eggman suffer they humiliation of defeat after defeat, even though you can help him." His ears folded downwards.

" _Well..._ "

"Come on, crowny, what's an evil genius gotta do to get you to switch sides?"

"We pretty much bend our knee to the nearest tyrant who wants to enslave us." The chief sighs. Sonic and Tails look at each other with a smirk on their faces.

"Done and done! Follow me. So long, losers! Um, march in unison please, I like organized followers..." Eggman leaves with the Gogobas. Sonic and Tails look at each other and then fist bump.

The next day, Eggman suffered under the wrath of the Gogobas.

"Hey, do you have any unsalted butter? It's not a problem if you don't, I'll just have an allergic reaction that'll make me smell like feet, but don't worry about it." The chief asks sadly. Eggman shakes his head in regret and then starts banging his head against his sofa while the Gogobas continue to have breakfast.


	10. Dude, Where's My Eggman?

It was daytime, and Orbot and Cubot we're waking up at Eggman's lair. "What happened to us last night? My head is spinning." Orbot questioned.

"That's not spinning! This is!" Cubot spun his head around. "Oh, that was a mistake. I hope whatever we did yesterday didn't involve a heavy meal."

"I'll check my memory array." Orbot does so. "Curious. Last night's memory file appears to have been erased. Check yours."

Cubot nods his head. His file stops loading partway through. Orbot presses Cubot's eyes, and they close. Cubot reboots himself. "Where was I?"

"Perhaps Dr. Eggman knows something about this. Dr. Eggman! Sir?" Orbot called for him, looking around in his room. "That's odd. Usually by this time he's telling us how inadequate we are. It appears as though he's completely vanished."

"Uh, so wait, Dr. E ain't here? I can do whatever I want? I'm gonna kick over that garbage can!" Cubot tries to kick the garbage can, but he fails. Orbot comes and he knocks the garbage can over. "That'll teach you to mess with me, doc!" Cubot yelled.

"We need to figure out what happened to us last night and find Dr. Eggman." Orbot mused. He thought for a moment. "But, where to start?"

"What do you two bolt-bags want?" Sonic asked harshly as they went to his shack.

"Oh, my own talk show, long blonde hair, taste buds..." Cubot replied. "But that's not why we're here; we seemed to have misplaced Dr. Eggman. Did you and he perchance battle yesterday?"

"Oh, we battled alright; I remember it like it was yesterday." Knuckles smirked as Sonic rolled his eyes. "It was yesterday."

"What was?"

_Fantasy-Eggman has his Badniks and cackles evilly as Knuckles tells his tale._

_"I've got you now!"_

_In Knuckles' fantasy, Sonic is cowardly and Knuckles is the brave one. Fantasy-Sonic begins panicking. "Oh no, I guess we have no other choice but to give up!"_

_Fantasy-Sonic begins to run away, but the scene pauses. The real Sonic comes up._ "Hey, that's not how it--"

The real Knuckles shushes him, and the scene continues. _Fantasy-Sonic runs away and slams right into a tree. "I'll handle this!" Fantasy-Knuckles groans. He runs towards Fantasy-Eggman and knocks away the Badniks. He skids to a stop in front of Fantasy-Eggman, who begins whimpering and gently pounding Fantasy-Knuckles' chest._

_"Now, you've made me mad."_

_Fantasy-Knuckles leaps into the sky, and his body is coated by energy. He launches a blast of energy towards Fantasy-Eggman, who opens an umbrella to protect himself. However, it is burnt down by the energy blast. Fantasy-Eggman sobs as Fantasy-Knuckles lands on the ground._

_"What a dreamboat!" Fantasy-Amy sighs as she, Fantasy-Sticks, and Fantasy-Hina hug him._

_"I wanna be just like you when I grow up." Fantasy-Sonic awes. Fantasy-Tails runs up. "Big bro! Knuckles, you've been elected governor!"_

_"All in a day's work!" Knuckles smiles at the camera and flies up into the sky, eventually heading up into space as his fantasy ends._

Knuckles is standing proudly, but Sonic is unimpressed by Knuckles' imagination. "That's all very nice, but I believe we were inquiring as to the whereabouts of Dr. Eggman." Orbot mused.

"Yeah, after we, as a team, defeated Eggman, he retreated toward the marketplace," Sonic said.

"Many thanks." Orbot and Cubot head that way. "Oh, and Knuckles, for the record, Tails would never call you 'Big Bro'."

"Nonsense. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to write my acceptance speech. What rhymes with "governor"?" Knuckles asked as Sonic rolls his eyes again.

"Keep your optical sensors peeled, Cubot. There must be a clue around here somewhere." Orbot said. "Hey, you two! Oh, you got a lot of nerve coming around here after what Eggman pulled last night!" Mike growled.

"Dr. Eggman was here?" Orbot questioned.

"He was, and he tried to make me the victim of his most evil scheme to date!"

_Eggman is standing outside Mike's shop. Interestingly, he is holding the very same burnt umbrella from Knuckles' fantasy in real life. "I'd like to return this umbrella."_

_"You can't expect a refund for that! It's broken!" Mike pointed out. "What are you talking about? It works fine! See?"_

_Eggman repeatedly opens and closes the remains of the top of the umbrella, but one of the ribs cracks. "But you have a 30-day return policy. This is ridiculous." Eggman kicks some cans but saw that the pyramid kept its shape. He growled and threw the umbrella on the ground. "You just lost a customer, pal."_

"After he ran out, I called the police," Mike replied. They then went to an officer. "Officer?"

The officer spits out his coffee. "Hey! Don't sneak up on a guy. It's not nice."

"I do apologize. But have you seen our missing employer? He's a loud, stocky fella with an evil laugh and a... you know." Orbot made a mustache gesture. The cop spits out his coffee again. "Oh, no! That guy. He's a dangerous criminal. We caught him last night. The streets are much safer with him off the... um... streets."

"Thanks," Cubot said as they went on. He spits out his coffee again. "You're welcome."

"We need to raise bail money to get the boss out of jail. And I know just how to do it." Orbot said.

"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, so I'm half crazy, all for the love of you~" Cubot sang, making the crowd retaliate a groan.

"I have a better idea," Orbot said after they both sighed.

"So, with your donation, we can finally build that oil bath for the old robots' home," Orbot told Amy and Hina in Amy's home. "Of course. I'm collecting for a charity myself. Operation Toasty Beak. We provide sweaters for baby penguins."

"They must be so cold in the frozen tundra." Orbot mused. Amy and Hina nodded.

"They are. And we have all these sweaters for them. But we can't afford the jet fuel to deliver the sweaters." Hina said sadly.

"Those poor little fluff-balls," Cubot mumbled.

"I was saving this money for that, but your cause seems important too. Here you go." Amy smiled, but the bots started sobbing. "We can't do it. You keep the money. Oh, and take ours too."They left sobbing, making Hina and Amy stay there in shock.

"What just happened?" Hina mumbled.

They then decided to get the money some other way. Selling the eggmobile. "I don't think we should sell the Eggmobile. The boss ain't gonna like it." Cubot mumbled.

"Ah, I see what's going on here. You're trying to con me. Well, you're not gonna pull one over on T.W. Barker No siree!" Barker growled. Orbot shook his head. "Oh, no. We're not trying..."

"So, how about I take her out for a test drive? But if I like the way she runs, you've got yourselves a sale. Just name the price."

"Hey, he says we can name the price. This guy must be a real sucker." Cubot said cheerfully. The bots turned back to the man.

"Mr. Barker, we have a...deal" Barker jumped into the mobile and took off, tipping his hat at the bots, he never came back, even after waiting an entire day. Cubot growled. "That's it. We tried doing things your way, now we're gonna do things my way."

They broke through the wall with a ray. They saw a shadow through all the dust. "Boss! Over here!"

It turned out to be a walrus, they heard police sirens, so they ran into the forest, once they got far enough, they sat down. "Thanks for the help, fellas. I always appreciate a good jailbreak. Willy Walrus, nice to meet you."

"We thought you was Eggman..." Cubot said, making Willy laugh. "Oh, I get mistaken for him all the time. In fact, I was just talking to him about it last night... I was walking through the marketplace when..."

_"You just lost a customer, pal." Eggman stormed off and bumped into Willy. "Whoa! Who's this handsome fella?"_

_Eggman turned around and blushed. "Oh, you honey dripper. I'd love to chat but I gotta break into a helium warehouse."_

_"Well, you bumped into the right walrus. Breaking and entering is my specialty." Willy winked._

_"Well, what are we waiting for? After you." He used his disintegrator ray to bust into the warehouse. They walk around. "How do we know these are helium?"_

_Eggman accidentally knocks a can down, making it go off. "I'm not sure," Willy responded._

_"If only there some way to tell."_

_There were suddenly sirens, and they quickly hid._

"And that's the last I saw of him. I spent the rest of the night in the joint. Breaking and entering is my specialty but I'm not so good at exiting." Willy mumbled.

They went to the warehouse, looking around. "Dr. Eggman? Dr. Eggman? Are you in here?"

"Here, Eggy, Eggy! Look. It's his disintegrator ray." Cubot pointed out as he picks it up. Orbot looked at him. "Finally a real clue. Now all we have to do is follow the path of destruction and..."

Orbot gasped as he saw his mustache on the ground. "Dr. Eggman's mustache! In his panic, he must have misfired his ray and... and..." He couldn't finish as tears were welling up in his robotic eyes.

"Agh! And all that's left of him is his glorious mustache." Cubot sobbed as Orbot wipes his tears with the mustache. "Come on, Cubot, let's go home."

They do so but got surprised as confetti was in the air. "Surprise." Dr. Eggman said.

"Dr. Eggman!" They hugged him, he pushed them off. "Hey! Get off me!"

"We thought you was toast." Cubot whimpered.

"What are you two clanking oil cans talking about?"

"You were gone this morning when we awoke." Orbot mused. "I went to get a breakfast burrito."

"We traced your footsteps all over town until we found your mustache at the helium warehouse." He showed him the mustache.

"That's the Pin the Moustache on the Eggman game for your party." He replied.

"Our..."

"Party?"

"Yes! You said a surprise party would improve morale." Eggman said triumphantly. "You went to all this trouble for us?" Orbot questioned.

"Of course not! I don't care about you nincompoops. I had you do all the work, then I erased your memories to make sure it was a surprise. So, surprise!" Eggman roared. Cubot tilted his head. "And what a wonderful surprise it is." Orbot cheered.

"Hang on a sec. You erased our memories? You can do that?"

"Oh, yeah. I do it all the time. It's real simple. You just press his button here..." Eggman mumbled as he does so, they woke up, just like they did this morning. "What happened to us last night? My head is spinning."

"That's not spinning. This is." Cubot spins his head. "Oh, that was a mistake. I hope whatever we did yesterday didn't involve a heavy meal."

"Hey, do you two have any idea where the Eggmobile is?" Eggman questioned.

"I got no idea, boss," Cubot replied.


	11. Cowbot

Knuckles is stretching because he and Sonic are playing coconut hurl. Tails is talking into a pretend microphone made of a pinecone on a stick. "It all comes down to this final toss for the young echidna from Angel Island. He'll need a score of four to take the championship."

Knuckles grabs Sonic and starts swinging him around.

"Can he do it? Can he score a four? The crowd is on their feet!" Tails said excitedly. Amy, Sticks, and Hina were standing, Amy looking more bored than ever. "Can you get on with it already?"

Knuckles throws Sonic and knocks three coconuts out of the tree. "Denied! Three coconuts is not quite four."

"Oh, Look! Look!" Hina pointed to the tree. A fourth coconut falls and hits Amy on the head, making her wince as Sonic and Knuckles laugh and cheer. "They've done it! They've achieved the impossible! The team of Knuckles and Sonic has bested the team of Sonic and Knuckles!" Tails cheered with them, this made Amy laugh.

"Wait a minute. You were playing against yourselves?"

"No! Weren't you listening? We beat Sonic and Knuckles. Ha! In your face, Sonic and Knuckles!" Sonic smirked. "You ready for a round...Tails?" They all look up in the sky. As a giant black storm cloud comes with a sunrise, Dr. Eggman arrives from the cloud.

"Behold, rodents! Prepare to face the most fearsome destructive force ever to grace this or any other world." Eggman lifts his arm towards the storm cloud he came from and poses awkwardly. Sonic and co. all stare at Eggman and the cloud.

"It'll be just a minute. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves." Eggman mumbled. This made Hina check her watch. "Your doom is coming, I assure you!"

Eggman once more lifts his arm toward's the storm's direction. More silence. Cut to Sonic and Knuckles, who appear to be getting impatient. A cow's moo is then heard. "Ahh, here it is now! This. Is. Cowbot!"

Zoom into the storm cloud, showing a close up of a robot cow, making its way towards the beach. It then lands in front of Team Sonic. Hina looked at it and squealed, happiness spread all over the face. "It's so cute!! Cows are so adorable!"

The female fox rushed over to the bot and giggled and marveled at it. Amy looked at it unimpressed. "It's a cow."

"It's a cow-bot." Eggman corrected, making everyone but Hina laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Cowbot? That has to be the lamest thing you've ever come up with." Sonic chuckled. "Not true. There was Spoonbot, Crybot, Mathbot, ooh, and who can forget Lamebot? Wait, what am I saying?"

"Yeah..."

"Forgot about that one."

"My breakfast is plotting to kill me..." Sudden silence as Team Sonic suddenly looks at Sticks, who immediately notices them looking at her. Cut to Eggman's face, who has an alert on his wrist controller go off. "Ooh! Time to move my laundry to the dryer. I'll leave you with Cowbot's capable hooves."

Eggman then turns away to go back to his lair. As Hina smiled. "Oh my chaos! It's so adorable!"

"You do realize we have to destroy that thing, right?" Sonic chuckled. This made Eggman stop. "Oh, did I mention that Cowbot is filled with Mootonium? A pun-based radioactive compound? If you destroy him, he'll vaporize everything in a 20-mile radius. Toodles!"

Eggman turns back around to return to his lair. Cowbot suddenly shoots a missile toward Hina, who gasped, Sonic quickly rushed to her rescue, but it hits the ground in front of them, making a small explosion. "He's firing crud missiles!" Sticks yelled.

Team Sonic run away from Cowbot, who continues to fire missiles at the group. The team hides behind some bushes, and a missile from Cowbot hits a coconut tree, dropping five coconuts on the ground. Knuckles suddenly appears from behind the bushes. "MY RECORD!"

"Aww, why do all things that are cute have to be evil." Hina sighed, making Sonic and Tails glare at her. "I'm right here!" They said in unison.

"If we can't smash that thing, what can we do?" Amy questioned.

"Looks like there's an access panel on top. If I can get to it, maybe I can reprogram Cowbot." Tails said hopefully.

"Time to tip this cow!"

"I'll distract him!" He winked and held a thumbs up to Tails. "I'm counting on you lil' buddy!" Sonic runs past Cowbot, the latter noticing and shooting more missiles at him. Meanwhile, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Sticks, and Hina got to Cowbot.

"One..."

They all prepare to push Cowbot on his side. Cut to Sonic, who is continuing to distract Cowbot. A missile almost hits him, making him nearly lose his balance. "Any day now guys!"

"Two..."

More pushing. A missile from Cowbot makes Sonic fall over and slide on the ground, getting sand into his mouth. The latter immediately spits it out.

"Three!" Hina, Tails, Amy, and Sticks yelled.

"Four, uh, I mean three!" Knuckles yelled. Team Sonic successfully pushes Cowbot on its side, rendering it unable to move. Tails flies up to the access panel, opens it, and proceeds to work on Cowbot. "Go get em' lil bro!" Sonic yelled from afar.

It suddenly is enveloped by electricity and milk suddenly comes from Cowbot's "utters". Knuckles, Amy, Hina, and Sticks manage to dodge it before it hits them.

"That should do it!" Tails smirked. Cowbot's eyes suddenly turn red, and it tries to get back on its feet. "Or not..."

Cowbot stands back up, making a loud moo before flying away in a different direction toward the ocean.

"Uhh, Tails. What's going on?" Sonic asked as he caught up with the group. "Not sure. Its original programming was to destroy Sonic, so since I reversed it..."

"It's going after Eggman! Classic!" Sonic laughed as Amy glared at him. "No, it's not classic. It's awful! That thing's a killing machine and if it explodes, no more Eggman!"

"And on laundry day? Not cool Sonic!" Knuckles growled though he whined as Hina hit him in the arm.

"Ugh, fine. I'll go warn him. Tails, you're coming with me, and bring your science stuff." Sonic nodded to Tails, who nodded back. "You got it Sonic!"

"And while you're there, ask him how he gets out grass stains. His whites are always so white."

Sonic and Tails arrive at the lair in Tails' Plane. The plane lands near the lair. "Tails, wait here. Who knows what kind of crazy defenses Eggman has."

"Sonic! I'm not 4 anymore, I can handle..." Sonic jumped out and rushed to the door, as Tails huffed and leaned his head against his hand. "...Myself."

Sonic knocks on the lair door, but nobody responds. "Huh, nothing. You think you know a villain..."

As Sonic begins to walk back, Eggman opens the door, wearing his onesie. "Oh. I wasn't expecting company."

"Yeah, I figured that out. Uh, don't you have some kind of defense system... And pants?" Sonic asked. "Funny story. I use parts from my defense system to make the Cowbot I sent to destroy you. How'd that work out by the way?"

"Tails reprogrammed it and now it's on the way here to destroy you instead. So, good luck with all that." Sonic started to walk back. "Toodles."

"But you can't just leave me here without my defenses. I'd be... Uh... What's the word?"

"Defenseless?" Sonic asked as he cocked an eyebrow. "Do you need us to bring your defense systems back online?" Tails walked towards the pair.

"Nah, I'm good, unless you've activated Cowbot's stage two directive, then my defenses will be useless."

"That's not that whole red eyes thingy, is it?" Sonic asked as Eggman nodded. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Lucky guess?" Sonic mumbled as he glared at Tails, who wilted and blushed heavily.

While inside, Tails was typing away on Eggman's supercomputer. "The only way to stop Cowbot is to upgrade Eggman's defense system."

"You'd do that for me? After all the terrible - yet totally justified - things I've tried to do to you?" Eggman sniffled. "A good thing I told you to bring your science stuff, huh, Tails?" Sonic smirked as Tails smirked as well, not looking at Sonic.

"You start working on Eggman's defenses, I'll gather up parts. And Eggman, put on some pants."

Tails is working on a circuit board. Eggman works on a freeze ray. Sonic makes himself a chili dog. A door opens and a Motobug comes charging into the room. Eggman fires his finished freeze ray, freezing the robot next to Sonic and Tails, who looks at each other satisfied.

Sonic pushes a machine outside. Eggman presses a button on remote control, deploying some drones. Eggman presses a button on his remote control, making the drones form a force field around the lair. Sonic, however, discovers a chili dog outside the force field and has Eggman turn the force field off so that he can retrieve it. After Sonic returns, eating the chili dog, Eggman turns the force field back on. The camera cuts to Cowbot, appearing high in the sky. 

"Okay. When Cowbot comes in range, Eggman will lower the force field. I'll zap Cowbot with the freeze ray, and Tails, you fly over and disarm it."

The trio put their hands together.

"All right."

The trio raises their hands.

"Let's rock!" Sonic chuckled.

The trio assumes their fighting stances.

"Let's butcher this bovine!" Tails growled. After a brief pause, the trio drops their arms in boredom. "I think we have some time."

"You want to go inside? I got cocoa." Eggman questioned.

While Tails was drinking his cocoa, he shook his head. "That is some interesting cocoa."

"Wanna guess my secret ingredient?"

"If he says love, I'm out of here." Sonic mumbles, Tails thought for a minute, his left ear twitching. "Is it nutmeg?"

"Close. It's actually a tablespoon of garlic powder."

Tails looked at the liquid. "That explains the texture."

Sonic is about to put his cup down on the table, but Eggman notices and puts a coaster underneath the cup. "Whoa whoa whoa. Coaster? What? Were you raised in a barn?"

Sonic eats a cookie. Just as he does so, Eggman turns on a blowdryer, sucking up the crumbs on Sonic's scarf. Sonic reacts in disgust.

"Wanna guess the secret ingredient?" Eggman smirked.

"Garlic?"

"Nope. Love! Just kidding, it's garlic."

"I thought he was annoying when he was just trying to destroy us." He told Tails, who just shrugged while chuckling. They were then watching a movie.

"Don't go in there, it's a trap!" Screaming was heard. "Can you believe she went in there?"

"Yeah, and after you warned her and everything," Sonic said sarcastically.

They were then outside.

"So what do you guys do for fun?" Eggman sighed. Tails and Sonic smirk at each other.

"Here we are at the coconut hurl Grand Championship. Sonic the Hedgehog will be tossing his arch-rival, Dr. Eggman. Let's join the game already in progress."

Sonic tries to lift Eggman, but fails. "Oh! That's going to be a penalty." Eggman then smiled. "Hey. I got an idea!"

Sonic tosses Eggman with a catapult. Eggman bumps into a potted palm tree, causing a large number of coconuts to drop on him. "They've done it! A new record!"

Crowds cheering is played in the background as Eggman and Sonic give a high five. It was now nighttime, and the trio was sitting around a campfire. Sonic groaned. "We've been up forever. When is Cowbot gonna get here?"

Eggman sighed. "You're so impatient, Sonic. Sometimes you got to slow down and enjoy life. Here, have a roasted marshmallow." Sonic takes the stick of marshmallow off Eggman and tastes it.

"Mmm... Sticky, but good."

"Really good."

"I never get to do stuff like this with Orbot and Cubot. Marshmallows always gunk up their circuitry." Sonic nodded. "Yeah, that's the problem with having no real friends."

"Yeah... Hey, you know who I hate? That Dave the Intern. Am I right, eh?" Eggman smirked.

"You know, I never gave him that much thought." Sonic chuckled.

"Are there any more marshmallows?" Tails asked, covered in sticky marshmallows. Sonic chuckled and gave him the bag. Eggman looked between the pair. "Hey, Sonic. Bro to bro. What's up with you and Tails? Why the whole "brotherly act"?"

"Yeah? Not gonna happen." Sonic smirked.

The trio is seen fast asleep. Rumbling is felt as Eggman stretches and wakes up. The camera cuts to Cowbot, firing pellets at the force field. Eggman panics. "Wake up! Wake up!"

Sonic and Tails get up.

"Engage all defense systems!"

"Turning off the force field!" Eggman presses a button on his remote control with his marshmallow-covered finger. The remote control fizzles and a few holes in the force field open. "Uh, I'm having some trouble here."

Sonic tries to control the freeze ray, but cannot, as his hands are covered in marshmallow gunk. "This thing's all gunked up. My hands are sticky from the marshmallows!"

"It's game over, man. Game over!"

Tails looks at his hands which are also covered in marshmallow. "Marshmallow! If they gunk up our machinery, they'll gunk up Cowbot's too!"

"But how are we gonna reach the access panel?" Sonic questioned. A catapult is set up with Sonic on it and Eggman about to toss him. "Ready. Aim. Fire!"

Eggman launches the catapult, launching Sonic, who is holding a bucket of marshmallow, into the air. However, Sonic misses Cowbot and hits the force field instead, causing him to fall down on the ground.

"I said, **_aim_**!"

"Oh, was that meant for me?"

Sonic sits in the catapult once more with a bucket of marshmallow. "Ready. _Aim_. Fire."

"It worked!" Eggman cheered.

"That's the beauty of teamwork."

"Not teamwork, my master plan. I tricked you into helping me upgrade my security system. Now, I can use your own tech against you." Eggman sneered. "Oh. So that's how it's gonna be, huh?"

Sonic, with a bucket of marshmallow, runs around Eggman's lair and pours marshmallow over Eggman's various equipment and new machines that he made with Sonic and Tails' aid, short-circuiting them. The force field de-activates.

"I really need to stop doing that thing where I gloat and explain exactly what you need to do to stop me."

Sonic claps his hands. "Our work here is done. Come on, lil bro."

Sonic and Tails walk off. Meanwhile, the lair door opens with Orbot and Cubot showing up. "Dr. Eggman, may we come out now?"

"No!"

Both Orbot and Cubot discover marshmallows on the ground.

"Ooh, marshmallows!"

Orbot and Cubot eat the marshmallows and instantly break down.


	12. Circus of Plunders

Knuckles, Amy, Hina, and Sticks are running in a canyon on a beautiful day from Eggman. "Knuckles, flank left!" Amy yelled.

"I don't take orders from you! _You_ flank left!"

"Why do we have to have this discussion every single time?" Hina growls. An explosion can be heard in the distance. Amy turns her attention to it as Dr. Eggman's Octopus Bot emerges from a hole in the canyon. "Behold, the awesome power of Octopus Bot!"

Octopus Bot wiggles its tentacles, and Sonic runs out of the hole in the canyon. He then runs up to Octopus Bot and shakes one of its tentacles with his right hand. "Nice to meet you."

Sonic runs around two of Octopus Bot's tentacles, causing them to get tangled. As Eggman struggles to untangle them, Amy runs up to Octopus Bot, carrying her hammer in both her hands. Octopus Bot tries to catch her with one of its tentacles, but she backs away just in time. Octopus Bot tries to catch her twice more, but she dodges its tentacle both times. She then hits the tentacle with her hammer, knocking it off and causing it to fly into the canyon and slide down it.

Octopus Bot chases after Sticks, who jumps up the canyon, dodging Octopus Bot's tentacles as they hit it. Sticks then jumps backwards, causing Octopus Bot's tentacle to hit its head. Inside Octopus Bot, Eggman pulls on the levers, causing Octopus Bot's tentacle to swat at him. He backs away to avoid getting hit. Eggman gets Octopus Bot's tentacle out, then Octopus Bot tries attacking Sonic, but Sonic moves out of the way. Sonic then starts running counter-clockwise circles around Octopus Bot. "You know, this would be easier if you'd all stop moving around."

"Sorry, I can't hear you." Sonic smirks. He stops running, but continues dodging Octopus Bot's tentacles. "Too busy running circles around your Squid Bot!"

"It's not a squid, it's an octopus! Can't you tell by the size of the tentacles in relation to the head?"

Tails flies his plane towards Octopus Bot. "Sonic, my laser-guided Unbolterizer is ready to go! I've got a clean shot at Spider Bot!"

"It's an octopus! An octopus!" Eggman yelled. Sonic is now holding his communicator up to his head. "Tails, have you even tested it yet?"

"Don't worry, it'll work!" Tails smiled.

A view of a crosshair is shown as Tails locks onto Octopus Bot. Tails presses the button on the right lever and his plane fires a yellow beam. The yellow beam misses Octopus Bot and bounces all over the canyon. It eventually hits Octopus Bot's severed tentacle, causing it to break into pieces, one of which hits a stack of rocks. The rocks crumble and fall, and Tails looks down at them in shock. "That's not good."

The rocks roll towards Hina. She screams and tries to dodge them. She jumps onto the boulder and runs on it. "Whoa! Okay, so much harder than surfing."

Knuckles punches and kicks the rocks out of the way as they roll towards him. "Huh! Huh! Yah! Keem em' coming! I could do this all day!"

Knuckles is about to punch a boulder, but it rolls over him, flattening him. "I could use a breather."

Tails flies his plane towards Octopus Bot, but it swats it out of the way with one of its tentacles, causing it to spin out of control.

"Heh heh heh heh! How the tide has turned. That's a nautical reference, cause it's a squid... I-I mean, octopus! Grrrr! Great! Now you've got me doing it!"

"Tails!" Sonic cried. His eyes flashed red as jumps onto the back of Octopus Bot and opens the back door with his left hand. He then grabs the wires inside with his right hand and pulls them out.

Electric sparks appear inside Octopus Bot, and Eggman stares in shock at them. Sonic then jumps out of the way as Octopus Bot falls and lands. A puddle of ink emits from below it, and Amy and Sticks flinch in disgust. Eggman's Eggmobile disconnects from Octopus Bot's body and floats above it. "Next time, study your cephalopods before we do battle!"

Eggman flies away in his Eggmobile. Tails has now landed his plane and walks out of it. "Guys, I don't know what happened!"

Amy angrily walks up to Tails as Sonic runs onto the boulder. "I'll tell you what happened; your laser almost turned us into robo-fish-food!"

"Yeah, and not the delicious flaky kind!" Knuckles growled. Tails' ears flattened to the point they were pressed up against to the back of his head. Flashbacks to when he got bullied flashed in his mind. "I-I'm Sorry. It-It malfunctioned!"

"Guys, cut it out." Hina growled.

"Maybe it didn't malfunction. Maybe..." Sticks points at Tails with her right index finger." This isn't even Tails! What if he's one of those sleeper agents? A mole, pretending to be a fox. A fox mole!"

Sticks runs up to Tails and grabs his head with both her hands, trying to pull it off. This was it. This is what caused the waterworks, Tails tried to get her off as tears ran down his face. Sonic immediately had enough and rushed to his side. "Hey, leave him alone! He just..."

"No, Sonic. They're right..." Tails mumbled, looking down as his tears hit the ground. "I put all of you in danger. I need to go."

Tails runs back to his plane.

"Tails, wait!" Hina yelled.

Tails then flies away in his plane. "Tails? You okay, lil bro? Tails?"

Tails removes his headset with his right hand, tears still flowing freely as he flies away. Sonic and Hina growls and glares at the trio before Sonic spoke; "Hey, guys, go easy on Tails. So he made a mistake! I mean, haven't you ever..."

Before Sonic can finish, the sound of a truck horn can be heard. A truck painted to look like a clown, with balloons tied to its roof, approaches him, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks, then stops just before it can hit any of them. T.W. Barker opens the door and climbs out.

"Oh, sorry if I scared you folks! Please, accept my most humble apologies!" He said with a small frown on his face as he lightly bowed his head.

"You almost made us roadkill, pal!" Sonic growled, annoyed.

"Oh, a thousand pardons! Allow me to introduce myself." He apologized once more and removed his top hat with his right hand and bows. "T.W. Barker. Entrepreneur, owner and ringmaster of T.W. Barker's Circus of Wonders!"

"A circus, huh? Like, with clowns?" Knuckles asked.

"And elephants?" Amy questioned.

"And tightrope walkers?" Hina pondered.

"And art made from corn husks? I have no idea what a circus is." Sticks wondered.

"Alas, I have none of those. For you see, my performers ate some bad sushi in the last town and have fallen gravely ill. All I have are my two Stunt Bears." He points at his two Stunt Bears with his left hand. The two Stunt Bears skate to a stop.

"So, how will you put on a show?" Hina questioned again. "I won't be able to. The children will be ever so disappointed!"

Amy gasped in shock at this. "Not the children!"

"Yes, the children! If only I could find some kind-hearted souls to help me keep the magic of the circus alive!"

"Mr. Barker, you're in luck! We'd be proud to volunteer in your circus!" Amy announced, smiling widely, Knuckles and Sticks nodding their heads, "Yes" in unison as well.

"Speak for yourself, Amy. What makes you think I'd want to perform like some kind of trained animal?" Sonic questioned as Hina nodded in agreement, she soon turned to the bears.

"No offense."

The two Stunt Bears shrug their shoulders in unison in response.

"Yes, yes, I-I understand. The training is quite rigorous. I-I..." He holds both his hands out like stop signs. "It's okay if you're not capable!"

" _Not...capable?_ " Sonic questioned, his right ear flicked and a smirk was placed on his face, his green eyes full of mischief. He runs counter-clockwise circles around T.W. Barker, much to the latter's amazement. Sonic then stops in front of Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks. ""Capable" is my middle name!"

"I thought your middle name was "The"." Knuckles questioned, making Hina's eyes roll.

"Look, I just hope your circus can keep up with me! I'm in!" Sonic smiled.

"Wonderful!" T.W. Barker smiled, soon all eyes were on Hina, who instantly froze. "O-Oh I don't do well in front of large crowds."

"But it could be a ton of fun!" Amy whined.

"Yeah!" Sticks, Knuckles, and Sonic agreed, Hina winced but pondered about it. She could be in this circus and possibly get closer to Sonic, she swallowed the rocks in her throat and with a shaky nod she quietly said. "Let's put on a circus!"

"Brilliant!" Barker smiled once more and reaches behind his back with his right hand and pulls out a remote control. He presses the button on it and the third car of his convoy opens. It unfolds a circus tent, and T.W. Barker is now holding the remote in his left hand. "I'm delighted to have all of you!"

Sonic nodded, before something clicked with him.

_Tails._

"Wait! There's one more." Sonic told him, pressing his communicator with his left index finger. "Tails, come in. We're joining the circus! You loved those when we were younger! We get to be in one!"

Yet, nobody answered, much to Hina's and Sonic's sadness.

"Tails?"

Meanwhile, Tails was in his workshop, grease and soot all over his fur, as he was leaning down, working on something on his workbench, he rose up, his fur sticking out in some places due to sweat, and his goggles were over his eyes, he took them off and gave his head a little shake, straightening his bangs back to their usual position. "That should do it!"

He picks up his Unbolterizer, then looks over at an alarm clock. He aims his Unbolterizer at the alarm clock, and it shoots a yellow beam, but the beam bounces off the alarm clock and out the window, much to Tails' bewilderment.

"Where the heck did that even go?" Tails questioned for a second before shaking his head. He put it back on the bench and leaned on it, using it as support. "Maybe they were right...maybe I should just give up."

However, something told him to look to a local bookshelf across the room, he does so, looking at a picture of him and Sonic, big happy smiles on their faces. It was from Sonic's Polaroid camera Tails fixed when he first moved in with Sonic, to celebrate, Sonic decided to take a selfie with him. He then glanced at the writing Sonic put on the Polaroid in the frame.

_Introducing Tails! Sonic's genius little brother!_

Tails smiled at that, and with a big huff, gained enough confidence to put his goggles back on and continue working.

Back with Sonic and the gang, they were preparing for the circus inside Barker's tent. "Welcome to the circus! Where your unique abilites will be put on display for the children of the world!"

He soon walked up to Sonic and puts both his hands on his shoulders.

"Sonic, there's only one creature fast enough to master..." He pulled off a purple tarp. Underneath was a circular cage. "The Sphere of Fear! A circulous cage with no beginning or end, allowing you to reach unparallelled speeds, all without leaving the center ring!"

"Wicked!" Sonic smiled, running into the Sphere of Fear and closing the door behind him. He runs around in it. Laughing in enjoyment. Barker then walked up to Knuckles, who was punching a sandbag with both his hands.

"You, my muscular friend, are formidable with your fists. But have you ever thought about using your head?"

Suddenly, Barker fires Knuckles out of a cannon, and Knuckles hits the target above it with his head. He then falls and lands on the ground below. "Using my head! I get it!"

He then turned to Amy. "Oh! Me! What am I gonna be? An acrobat? A lion tamer? A magician performing illusions the likes of which nobody has ever seen?"

"You'll be a sad clown." Barker pulls a purple hat from behind his back and puts it on Amy's head with both his hands. Amy looked at him, upset. "Sad clown?! I see what's going on here; you're giving me the lame job because I'm a girl!"

She soon shut up as she saw Sticks jump backwards past her and T.W. Barker, and lands on the center ring. She holds her right hand up to her head. "I'm ready for my trapeze act, boss!"

"Ohhhh!"

"And as for you, my foxy vixen! You'll be our tightrope walker! Who will walk this extreme high thin rope effortlessly!" He gestured upward, making Hina's face whitened as she gulped in fear.

A harness was clipped on her, Amy and sticks testing if it will hold her weight, they nodded at Barker, who nodded back. Hina slowly stepped towards the rope, her whole body shaking. Sonic put a hand on her shoulder, making her look at him, he gave off a kind smile. "You can do this, Hina. You have the best balance out of all of us."

She gave off a soft smile and nodded, blowing a bang out of her face, she slowly reached out her arms and took a step on the rope, she took another step, and another, and another's everyone's breaths stilled.

She thought she was doing a great job, until she started to fall sideways, she gasped as well as everyone else, but she thought of the only thing to get her across the rope as fast as possible, she grabbed the rope, and with a lot of effort, did a cartwheel off of the rope and onto the platform, she rose back up, panting and eyes wide as she sunk to the floor, holding her hand to her heart as she tried to calm her breathing, she soon heard cheering, she looked at the other side to see her friends cheering.

"That was amazing!" Sticks smiled.

"You nailed it!" Knuckles yelled.

"Way past cool!" Sonic complimented. The cheers from her friends made her smile and blush, even if was a small bit.

It was turning dark, and yet Tails was still working on his invention. With even more grime on his hands and fur, he rose up with a huge smile. "That's it! I didn't use a counter-weight to compensate for changes in velocity! I did it!" Tails cheered, but his cheering stopped when he realized he was still alone, in fact, he hasn't heard from Sonic or Hina or any of his friends since earlier today. Picking up his headset, he spoke into the mic. "Sonic? Are you there? I fixed it! It works like brand new!"

Yet...nobody answered.

His heart sank a little as he had many worries cloud his mind. What if they cut him off? What if they found a new friend? What if Sonic didn't want to be his brother anymore. He gulped and tried again. "Sonic?"

_**"Sonic?"** _

Sonic couldn't hear his communicator due to the loud crowd cheering in the tents, making his blood pump up in excitement.

"Welcome to T.W. Barker's Circus of Wonders!" Barker welcomed the crowd, who was holding a microphone in his right hand as his two Stunt Bears ride their unicycles around him in a counter-clockwise circle. "Tonight, we bring you feats of strength, speed, and agility! The likes of which you have never seen before! Unless you've been to any other circuses. Enjoy!"

The Villagers cheer and applaud. Knuckles is fired out of the cannon, and he hits the target above with his head. The villagers cheer and applaud, then Sticks grabs a trapeze with both her hands. She lets go and flips through a ring, then lands on the platform on the other end. Amy, who is dressed like a clown, walks backwards as she juggles some bowling pins. She then trips and the bowling pins fly into the air, and two of them hit her on the head. The Villagers laugh at her, much to her annoyance.

"It's not funny, it's sad! You're supposed to sympathize with the sad clown!" The third bowling pin hits Amy on the head, and the villagers continue laughing.

"Behold, the Sphere of Fear!" The Villagers cheer as Sonic waves his right hand at them. Sonic then runs inside the Sphere of Fear, and the Villagers continue cheering.

"And for our final act tonight, I present to you; the tightroping fox!"

A spotlight hit's Hina's eyes as she winced, the crowd went eerily silent, she looked at them confused for a second, before realizing that they were waiting for her. Making sure the harness was tight around her. She faced the tightrope, and began to walk across it, her arms stretched out once again, once she was halfway, she started to feel uneasy, like something was going to-

_***SNAP*** _

Break.

The harness' strap broke off, leaving her completely frozen on the tightrope, Sonic ran up to the cage's bars in fear, looking at her with worried green eyes. While Hina looked at the rope with worried Amber eyes.

_"You got this!"_

Hina softy gasped as she slowly and shakily moved her head to look at Sonic, who was cheering for her. "You got this!"

Soon her other friends start to join in, as well as the crowd, she looked at them with wide eyes. "Everyone..."

She sooner glared at the other platform, moving slowly towards it, once she felt she was loosing balance again, she did a cartwheel off the rope and onto the platform, making the crowd give her a huge cheer, she smiled at the crowd, giving a small bow.

After the show has finished, Sonic is flexing inside the Sphere of Fear. Knuckles' head now has a lump on it, and his eyes spin. "What time does the show start?"

"Great job, everybody!" Amy smiled.

"That was a blast! We should do it again sometime!" Sonic added.

"Yes, you should!" Barker added a smile as well, before glaring and smirking at the group. He closes the door on the Sphere of Fear with his right hand and puts a lock on it with his left. Sonic runs up to the door as T.W. Barker locks the lock with a key he is holding in his right hand. "Hey, what's the big idea?!"

"Well, you see, my performers aren't exactly sick, they escaped! So when I heard about your crew, I set up this brilliant trap!" Barker smirked, making Sonic growl and Sonic bangs on the door of the Sphere of Fear with his right hand.

"Ha! And you marks walked right into it!"

Barker points at Knuckles with his left hand. The two Stunt Bears grab Knuckles by his arms with both their hands and toss him into a cage. Sticks angrily runs towards T.W. Barker because of this, but he dodges Sticks, causing her to run into a cage next to Knuckles. T.W. Barker walks up to the cage and shuts the door with his left hand. Sticks pulls on the door with both her hands. Sonic pulls on the door of the Sphere of Fear with both his hands.

"But here's the real prize; it's not easy to catch lightning in a bottle, so I had to special order this bottle from a mutual friend of ours!" Barker smiled.

"You forgot one thing, Barker!"

He turned his head to see Amy and Hina, glaring at him while they had their weapons in their hands. "Us!"

"Did I? Oh, sweet, compassionate Amy Rose, think of the children!"

"The children..." Amy sighed sadly, Hina looked at her. "Amy!"

"Oh! Right! That's not gonna work on me this time!"

Before the pair knew it, they were both in cages. "So, is this a regional tour, or..."

"Now, in case you manage to escape, ordered some of these as well!" Barker presses the button on the remote, and five Motobugs roll out from behind the curtain. They then roll around the caged Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks, as well as T.W. Barker, in a counter-clockwise circle.

"Now...didn't you say there was one more?" He asked Sonic with a smirk on his face, making his eye's widen in fear.

_Tails._

Speaking of the two tailed fox he was in his workshop, just coming back from testing his invention, finding out it was a huge success. "Now if only Sonic was here..."

_**"Tails?"** _

He soon got confused when he heard Sonic's voice, but realized he still had his headset on. "S-Sonic! Where are you?!"

_**"Tails! Man, am I glad to hear from you! that circus creep captured us! We need your help, lil bro!"** _

Tails froze at that, and tears started to fill up his eyes, because in all of his doubting and failures, hearing those two words always made him feel so much better. He nodded with a smile. "Ten-four, blue leader! Help is on the way!"

_**"We'll wait for ya, Yellow Sky."** _

Tails' sight soon landed on Barker's circus tent, Tails smirked at it. "I've got eyes on the big top, Sonic!"

Tails lowers a grapping hook from his plane, and it snatches the tent by its flag. The grappling hook pulls the tent away, revealing the caged Knuckles, Amy, Hina, and Sticks underneath, who are all happy to see him. "Tails!"

Sonic soon rushed towards the bars and looked at Tails, a small amount of fear in them. "Get me out of this thing!"

Tails flies his plane towards three Motobugs, who have all aimed their missile launchers at him. They fire at him, but he dodges their missiles. Tails then fires a yellow beam at the base of the Sphere of Fear, but it misses.

"Great! That thing still doesn't work!" Knuckles growled, receiving a glare from Hina in return.

However, the yellow beam bounces off the stairs of the bleachers, and hits a Motobug, breaking it to pieces. It then bounces off Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks' cages, breaking them to pieces and setting Knuckles, Amy, Hina, and Sticks free. Finally, the yellow beam hits the base of the Sphere of Fear, breaking it, and causing Sonic to run in it. He runs in it, and it rolls on the ground.

"Now this is wicked!"

"I could add in a freak-show act." Barker hummed to himself before speaking louder. "Bears! Motobugs! Attack!"

The two Stunt Bears and two of the Motobugs all roll towards Sonic, who destroys the Motobugs with the Sphere of Fear. Knuckles is now in the cannon, which fires him at Stunt Bear No. 2, pushing him away.

Amy destroys a Motobug with her hammer, which she is holding in her right hand. She juggles three bowling pins in her left hand as she destroys another Motobug with her hammer. Sticks swings on the trapeze with both her hands, and hits Stunt Bear No. 1 with both her feet, spinning him around. Hina climbed up on the tightrope platform, turned and fell backwards, before smirking and bringing her hammer down hard on a Motobug.

Tails then flies his plane towards a Motobug and destroys it with a yellow beam from his Unbolterizer. He then sees T.W. Barker running away.

"Sonic, he's getting away!"

"No he's not." Sonic growled back. He runs towards T.W. Barker, opens the door of the Sphere of Fear, and jumps out of it, which is shown in slow motion. The doorway to the Sphere of Fear catches T.W. Barker, and rolls to a stop. T.W. Barker walks up to Sonic. "Let me out of this infernal cage! I'm an entrepeneur!"

Barker pulls on the Sphere of Fear with both his hands. Tails his lands plane near him and Sonic.

"That was some sweet flying, buddy!" Tails jumps out of his plane, and Knuckles and Sticks walk up to him, while Hina runs up to him and hugs him.

"Yeah , you did good!" Knuckles complimented.

"Sorry for saying you were a double agent. I didn't realize you were a... triple agent!" Sticks yelled.

"Yeah! Thanks Tails!" Hina smiled.

Tails blushed as his ears folded down in embarrassment. "Well, I'm just happy I could help. Now, let's get out of here!"

They all start to walk towards the plane, leaving Barker to wallow, in sadness as the gang takes flight.


End file.
